DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0210
184
OLD WORLD MASTERS
DJLDALUS AND ICARUS.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck Collection of
(1599-1641). Mr. Frank P. Wood.
A treasure of art, long in England in the famous Collection of the
late Earl Spencer, K. G., at Althorp, Northumberland, is Van Dyck’s
poetic version of the ancient Greek myth regarding man’s attempt at
flight. Van Dyck was so fond of this subject that he painted it more
than once.
This work is an oil painting on canvas (46 x 35 inches).
The figures are nearly life-size and very finely modelled. Icarus is
nude save for a red drapery caught around the waist by a narrow
band of bluish green,—a rather strange aviator’s suit to our way of
thinking to-day! The position of his right hand would seem to tell
us that Icarus is about to speak to his father, who, standing behind
him, has apparently just fastened on his son’s wings and who appears
to be giving him that sage advice about flying too near the sun. The
flashing eyes and knitted brow of young Icarus indicate that this ad-
vice is not relished.
Max Rooses has noted that Icarus is not unlike the Angels that Van
Dyck was fond of painting; calls attention to his beautiful, waving,
golden hair; and finds a strong likeness between Icarus and the artist
himself in his youth. One of the wings shows a white interior and the
other, in the shadow, a bluish green exterior.
Daedalus was a mythical personage under whom the Greek writers
personified the earliest development of human flight and also the arts
of sculpture and architecture. Some traditions represent Daedalus
as of the royal race of the Erechthidae and others make him a Cretan.
Daedalus devoted himself to sculpture and taught his sister’s son,
Talus, who soon surpassed him. Consequently, in envy Daedalus
killed this young rival. Condemned to death in Athens for this mur-
der, Daedalus fled to Crete, where his fame won him the friendship of
King Minos. When Queen Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur,
Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth at Cnossus in which the Mino-
taur was kept; and for doing this King Minos imprisoned him. How-
OLD WORLD MASTERS
DJLDALUS AND ICARUS.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck Collection of
(1599-1641). Mr. Frank P. Wood.
A treasure of art, long in England in the famous Collection of the
late Earl Spencer, K. G., at Althorp, Northumberland, is Van Dyck’s
poetic version of the ancient Greek myth regarding man’s attempt at
flight. Van Dyck was so fond of this subject that he painted it more
than once.
This work is an oil painting on canvas (46 x 35 inches).
The figures are nearly life-size and very finely modelled. Icarus is
nude save for a red drapery caught around the waist by a narrow
band of bluish green,—a rather strange aviator’s suit to our way of
thinking to-day! The position of his right hand would seem to tell
us that Icarus is about to speak to his father, who, standing behind
him, has apparently just fastened on his son’s wings and who appears
to be giving him that sage advice about flying too near the sun. The
flashing eyes and knitted brow of young Icarus indicate that this ad-
vice is not relished.
Max Rooses has noted that Icarus is not unlike the Angels that Van
Dyck was fond of painting; calls attention to his beautiful, waving,
golden hair; and finds a strong likeness between Icarus and the artist
himself in his youth. One of the wings shows a white interior and the
other, in the shadow, a bluish green exterior.
Daedalus was a mythical personage under whom the Greek writers
personified the earliest development of human flight and also the arts
of sculpture and architecture. Some traditions represent Daedalus
as of the royal race of the Erechthidae and others make him a Cretan.
Daedalus devoted himself to sculpture and taught his sister’s son,
Talus, who soon surpassed him. Consequently, in envy Daedalus
killed this young rival. Condemned to death in Athens for this mur-
der, Daedalus fled to Crete, where his fame won him the friendship of
King Minos. When Queen Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur,
Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth at Cnossus in which the Mino-
taur was kept; and for doing this King Minos imprisoned him. How-