Copy after Giulio Romano's Fall of Icarus
after 1536
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over red chalk, heightened with lead white
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.398,"width":0.293},"secondary support":{"height":0.419,"width":0.316}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Robert A. Frary in memory of I. T. Frary
Accession Number
1992.90
Tags
About this artwork
Having flown too close to the sun, Icarus plummets from the sky as the wax securing his makeshift wings melts, and the straps unravel. His father Daedelus, who invented the wings, watches in horror as his son begins a deadly fall. Punished for failing to heed his father’s warning and attempting to enter the realm of the gods, Icarus was a moral reminder to Renaissance viewers of human fallibility and the risks of excessive pride.