Charles Jalabert Charles Jalabert Charles François Jalabert (1819–1901) was a French painter in the academic style. He rapidly gained renown as an artist among Parisian high society in the second half of the 19th century and attended the salon of Madame Sabatier. Some of his works are now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes. Jalabert was born in Nîmes. One of his most famous works was the oil on canvas painting called "The Plague of Thebes". The painting referred to the Athenian tragedy 'Oedipus Rex' by Sophocles. Thebes is ravaged by plague as a result of the corruption in the place
Oedipus Rex clear. A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Oedipus's father has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However, he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope was not in fact his real mother. It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby, which the childless