The myth of Daedalus and Icarus

Told through art

and

quotes from Ovid’s The Metamorphsis

Charles de Brun, Daedalus and Icarus, 1645

“He may thwart our escape by land or sea” Daedalus said, “but the sky is surely open to us. We will go that way. Minos rules everything but he does not rule the heavens.”

Johnathan Clarke. Monument to Daedalus. 1993. Norwich, Great Britain.

So he applied his thought to new invention and altered the natural order of things.

Ancient Roman relief in Szony, Hungary

Daedalus laid down lines of feathers….so that you might think they had grown like that, on a slant…then he fastened them…

Daedalus and Icarus bas relief in Villa Albani, Rome 18th century

His son Icarus stood next to him not realizing that he was handling things that would endanger him.

Augusto Giacomo. Daedalus and Icarus, 1630

“Let me warn you, Icarus to take the middle way,

in case the moisture weighs down your wings if you fly too low, or if you fly to high the sun scorches them.”

Wow Comics, The Story of Icarus. Early 20th c.

Travel between the extremes…take the course I show you.

Andrea Sacchi. Daedalus and Icarus, 1645.

While he worked and issued his warnings the ageing man’s cheeks were wet with tears.

Roger, Brown. The flight of Daedalus and Icarus. Mural. 120 N. LaSalle St., Chicago

Daedalus, lifting upward on his wings, flew ahead like a bird leading her fledglings…into the empty air.

Some ploughman, resting on the handles of his plough saw them, perhaps, and stood there amazed.

Bruegel the Elder. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, 1590-95

The boy began to delight in his daring flight

Ozone, Icarus, 21st century tattoo

Henri Matisse. The Fall of Icarus. 1946.

Drawn by desire for the heavens, soared higher

Derek Riggs, album art for Piece of Mind album, 1983.

His nearness to the devouring sun softened the fragrant wax that held his wings.

Antonio Tempesta, The Fall of Icarus, 1606

He flailed with bare arms

Peter Paul Reubens, Fall of Icarus, 1636

But losing his oar-like wings, could not ride the air.

Rinaldo Palluzi, Icarus, 1959

Even as his mouth was calling his father’s name it vanished into the dark blue sea.

Rebecca Matte. Icarus and Daedalus. 1922

Daedalus laid the body of his child to rest.