Title: Daedalus and Icarus
Artist: Anthony Van Dyck
Description
When you take everything into detail, you will notice that the artist, Anthony Van Dyck, painted Icarus (left) very pale. While Daedalus, Icarus’ father, was painted with a darker complexion.The background resembles the color gray, whereas in the story Daedalus and Icarus are surrounded by brick walls, with a lone window that will soon become their escape route. I took into account that Anthony Van Dyck dressed Daedalus in a toga, whereas Icarus is trying to cover himself with what seems to be a blanket that resembles the color of his father’s toga. The wings seem to be more life-like then described in the story. In the story it states that Daedalus made the wings from wax and feathers, and that is what led to the death of Icarus. To conclude, Anthony Van Kyck used pale colors that seem to bring to mind death.
Analysis
As I said before, Anthony van Dyck used pale colors to paint and this seems very smart because it seems that there is a hint of sadness. With Icarus’ coloring it seems as if he is already dead and the blanket is the burial shroud that the ancient Greeks were either buried in or burned in. Like I said before, the background is gray and unlike the story, it doesn’t show a brick wall with a lone window. This once more brings to mind that it is to foreshadow the tragic end of Icarus. Daedalus seems to have been painted with a darker complexion than his son Icarus which tells you that Daedalus will stay alive and well. If you take into account what the characters are doing in the painting you will notice that while Daedalus is trying to explain how to use the wings, Icarus is daydreaming about flying. This seems to be the reason for his later on demise. Sadly this paintings shows nothing of Icarus’ actual demise, but Anthony Van Dyck does a wonderful job of showing the creation of the wings and the reason of Icarus’ downfall.
Theme
The morals of Daedalus and Icarus