Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/herbert-draper-1029" aria-label="More by Herbert Draper" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Herbert Draper</a>
Lament Icarus
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1898
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: features
birth to death
classical myths: creatures
classical myths: gods and heroes
cliff
death
diseases and conditions
drowned
female
Icarus
lying down
male
man
mourning
nudes
nymph
people
religion and belief
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
wing
woman
<p>Icarus’s father, the inventor Daedalus, made wings that allowed them to fly away from their island prison. The exhilarated Icarus forgot warnings and soared too close to the sun, melting the wax that secured the feathers, and he fell to his death. Charles Darwin’s publication of <span>On the Origin of Species</span> in 1859 gave an optimistic picture of the present and future evolution of humankind, but it also introduced ideas of a deep and obscure past. Art and literature took up this theme of origins, man’s mythical history and struggles between animal and human nature.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 August 2005 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
8 August 2005 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
2005-08-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-08
Victorian Spectacle
Collection based display
15 September 2012 – 31 January 2013
2013-01-31
15 September 2012 – 31 January 2013
2013-01-31
2012-09-15
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham, UK)
http://www.bmag.org.uk
2012-09-15
Love and Death: Victorian Paintings from Tate
Loan-out
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
The Lament for Icarus
support: 1829 × 1556 mm
frame: 2400 × 2185 × 240 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1898
<div><p><span>Icarus’s father, Daedalus, made wings that allowed them to fly away from their island prison. The exhilarated Icarus forgot warnings and soared too close to the sun, melting the wax that secured the feathers, and he fell to his death. After Charles Darwin’s </span><i>On the Origin of Species </i><span>was published in 1859, writers and artists such as Herbert Draper took up his theme of origins, man’s mythical history and struggles between animal and human nature. Darwin’s book was optimistic about the future evolution of humankind, but it also introduced new ideas of its past.</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
<p><b>N01679</b> THE LAMENT FOR ICARUS <i>c.</i> 1898
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Herbert J. Draper’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 72×61 1/4 (183×155·5).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1898.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
R.A., 1898 (903).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> A. C. R. Carter, ‘The Royal Academy, 1898’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1898, p.182, repr.; Sir Edward J. Poynter, <i>The National Gallery</i>, III, 1900, p.56, repr. p.57.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>Royal Academy Pictures</i>, 1898, p.122.</p>
<p>An oil sketch is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. The first <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> and a study of a Naiad were included in the artist's exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, January 1905 (13 and 60).</p>
<p>Icarus, son of Daedalus, fell into the sea and was drowned when flying with his father from Crete over the Aegean. Daedalus, mythical <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptor</span></a>, architect and inventor of flying, made wings for himself and his son, but Icarus flew too near the sun, the wax with which the wings were fastened melted and he was killed. The Icarian sea is named after him. The artist does not appear to have read the story carefully, as he has represented the wings still fastened to the body.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: features birth to death classical myths: creatures classical myths: gods and heroes cliff death diseases and conditions drowned female Icarus lying down male man mourning nudes nymph people religion and belief sea seascapes and coasts society wing woman