Phèdre et Hippolyte

The painting "Phèdre et Hippolyte" (1802) by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin depicts a scene from Greek mythology. The story, famously adapted by Jean Racine in his tragedy "Phèdre," centers on Phèdre, a stepmother who falls obsessively in love with her stepson, Hippolyte. This forbidden passion leads to tragedy when Hippolyte rejects her advances. Believing her husband, Theseus, to be dead, Phèdre confesses her love, but he returns and is misled into believing Hippolyte is the aggressor. Theseus then calls upon Neptune to destroy his son, resulting in Hippolyte's death by horses. Guérin's work is described as melodramatic and calculated.123