The Lament for Icarus | |
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Artist | Herbert James Draper |
Year | 1898 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 180 cm × 150 cm (72 in × 61 in) |
Location | Tate Britain, London |
The Lament for Icarus is a painting by Herbert James Draper, showing the dead Icarus, surrounded by lamenting nymphs. The wings of Icarus are based on the bird-of-paradise pattern.[1] In 1898, the painting was bought from the Royal Academy exhibition through The Chantrey Bequest, a public fund for purchasing modern art bequeathed by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, R.A.[2] The Lament for Icarus was subsequently awarded the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris.[3]
According to Justine Hopkins, Draper identifies Icarus "with the other heroes of the Pre-Raphaelites and symbolists, who, like James Dean half a century later, manage to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse".[1] (The last half of that comment is based on a line in the 1947 novel Knock on Any Door by Willard Motley and its film adaptation.)