The exhilarated Icarus forgot warnings and soared too close to the sun, melting the wax that secured the feathers, and he fell to his death. His work combined academic figure drawing with an almost Post-Impressionist color range and pointillist technique, designed to retain the works’ brilliancy when seen from a distance and under the artificial lighting of the company’s dinners” (Morgan & Nahum, 2006). Artwork page for ‘The Lament for Icarus’, Herbert Draper, exhibited 1898 Icarus’s father, the inventor Daedalus, made wings that allowed them to fly away from their island prison. “At about the same time, the artist received an important mural commission for the ceiling of the Draper’s Hall, headquarters of one of the old London livery companies. By 1900, “Lament for Icarus” won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle. ![]() ![]() His wife, Ida, helped him in his artwork by serving as a model for him when necessary and helping to keep him grounded. He also had some help from various patrons, most of whom were gained through his romantic affairs (Lavender & Woodwark, 2000). Credit: Public Domain The story of Icarus is one of those legends of Greek mythology that fascinates audiences because of Icarus’ desire to transgress human boundaries, thus culminating in tragic consequences. During this time, he supported his painting by creating book illustrations. The story of Icarus is one of the most well-known in all of Greek mythology. With “An Episode of the Deluge”, Draper won the Royal Academy Traveling Scholarship in 1889 (Lavender & Woodwark, 2000) and was then able to spend the next few years studying art in Paris and Rome. His first art exhibit was held at the Academy in 1887.īy 1898, “Lament for Icarus,” the painting to be discussed here, was purchased by the most influential public fund for modern art in the country at that time, the Chantrey Bequest. John’s Wood Art School until he was finally accepted into the Royal Academy Schools in 1884 (Morgan & Nahum, 2006). ![]() By taking all this information together, understanding the artist, the time period, the image and the myth, one can gain a sense of the cultural understanding of this figure as it grew out of the Greek and Roman heritage into the period in which a particular representation is made.Herbert James Draper was born in 1863 in London.
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