''The Lament for Icarus'' is a painting by

Herbert James Draper Herbert James Draper ( (baptism record) – ) was an English Classicist painter whose career began in the Victorian era and extended through the first two decades of the 20th century. Life Born in London, the son of a fruit merchant named Joh ...

, showing the dead

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos sus ...

, surrounded by lamenting

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

. The wings of Icarus are based on the

bird-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of this ...

pattern.Jacob E. Nyenhuis
''Myth and the creative process: Michael Ayrton and the myth of Daedalus, the maze maker''
Wayne State University Press, 2003, p. 54, In 1898, the painting was bought from the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

exhibition through The

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

, a public fund for purchasing

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

bequeathed by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, R.A. ''The Lament for Icarus'' was subsequently awarded the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. According to Dr. Justine Hopkins, Draper identifies Icarus "with the other heroes of the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jame ...

and

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

s, who, like

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...

half a century later, manage to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse". (The last half of that comment is based on a line in the 1947 novel ''

Knock on Any Door ''Knock on Any Door'' is a 1949 American courtroom trial film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart. The picture gave actor John Derek his breakthrough role, and was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Willard Motley ...

'' by

Willard Motley Willard Francis Motley (July 14, 1909 – March 4, 1965) was an American writer. Motley published a column in the African-American oriented ''Chicago Defender'' newspaper under the pen-name Bud Billiken. He also worked as a freelance writer, and ...

and its film adaptation.)

The composition

In 1890s Draper was focused mainly on ancient Greek mythological subjects.

Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

had depicted Icarus in 1869, but while Leighton showed the preparations for the flight, Draper depicted the tragic ending of the flight. For the composition Draper adopted Leighton's method of depicting separate figures, for which he employed four young professional models (Ethel Gurden,

Ethel Warwick Ethel Maude Warwick (13 October 1882 – 12 September 1951) was a British stage actress, appearing in both plays and films. Warwick was also a model for several artists, prominently for John William Godward. Biography Early years Ethel Ma ...

, Florence Bird and Luigi di Luca).Alison Smith. ''Exposed: The Victorian Nude'', Watson-Guptill, 2002 The use of the male body as a vehicle for the projection of subjective emotion, as in ''The Lament for Icarus'', is a feature of late- Victorian painting and sculpture, and in ''The Lament for Icarus'' the body appears to melt within the arms of one nymph. Draper applied liquid light effects without abandoning form and used mainly warm colours. The tanned skin of Icarus refers to his close approach to the Sun before falling down. The rays of the setting sun on distant cliffs emphasize the transience of time. Moralizing, sentimental and sensual, ''The Lament for Icarus'' ultimately became a well-composed image of epic failure. However, somewhat surprising, Icarus has his wings fully intact, contrary to the myth where the wax melted and Icarus fell flapping his bare arms.Ovid. "Daedalus et Icarus." ''Metamorhposes.'' The image of a "winged creature" is likely utilized to create a more symbolic, romantic and elegant appearance.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lament for Icarus, The 1898 paintings Paintings depicting Greek myths Paintings by Herbert James Draper Paintings about death Collection of the Tate galleries Paintings of people Musical instruments in art