Member-only story
How to Read Paintings: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel
A fascinating retelling of the story of youthful ambition
The artist who made this image, thought to be Pieter Bruegel or one of his followers, has painted an expansive landscape.
In the far distance, there are mountain ranges, towns and cities. In the middle distance, Portuguese-style ships move across a calm sea carrying cargo between trading posts. Up close, a shepherd minds a flock of sheep whilst a farmer ploughs a small stretch of land. The red of the farmer’s shirt stands out boldly against the green-blue tone of the wider painting.
One tiny detail among this array of activity, though easy to miss, ought to catch our eye: in the bottom right-hand corner, notice a pair of legs kicking as they disappear into the water.
These legs belong to the young man from Greek myth named Icarus. He has attempted to fly using wings made from birds’ feathers and wax, but the wings have failed him and he has plunged headlong into the water.
The fall of Icarus is but a tiny detail in Bruegel’s painting but it adds a profound echo that reverberates curiously and fascinatingly through the rest of the work. The image, measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres, has relegated its central theme to the outer margins – but then this is the point.
The story of Icarus
Let’s begin with the story of Icarus, who lived on the island of Crete with his father Daedalus.
Daedalus was a renowned craftsman and inventor who worked for King Minos. It was Daedalus who devised the maze known as the Labyrinth in which the Minotaur — a creature with the body of a man and the head and horns of a bull — was kept. It was also Daedalus who gave the King’s daughter, Ariadne, a ball of thread to help her lover Theseus escape from the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur.
Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned by Minos for helping Theseus. Desperate to escape, Daedalus used his inventor skills to fashion a pair of wings from feathers…
