Sappho and Phaon

Phaon in Greek mythology (Greek: Φάων; gen.: Φάοντος) was a boatman of Mitylene in Lesbos. He was old and ugly when Aphrodite came to his boat. She put on the guise of a crone. Phaon ferried her over to Asia Minor and accepted no payment for doing so. In return, she gave him a box of ointment. When he rubbed it on himself, he became young and beautiful. Many were captivated by his beauty. According to mythology, Sappho fell in love with him. He lay with her but soon grew to resent her and devalue her. Sappho was so distraught with his rejection that she threw herself into the sea under the superstition that she would be either cured of her love, or drowned. She was drowned. Aelian says that Phaon was killed by a man whom he was cuckolding. Catherine the Great was a fan of this story and commissioned multiple artworks surrounding the narrative. 'Sappho, Phaeon and Cupid' is the only painting by Jacques-Louis David to be housed at The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. This bust is, like most of the other sculptures at Ekaterininsky Park, of unknown origin.