End Notes
Bruegel's Icarus and the perils of flight
To return to your place in the text, just click your Back button
1. Pieter Bruegel, also known as Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569). Before 1559 his name was also normally spelled “Brueghel”.
2. Timothy Foote, The World of Bruegel c 1525-1569, Time Life International (Nederland), 1971 at 16-17.
3. Foote, op cit at 18; Bernhard Ridderbos, Anne Van Buren, Henk Van Veen, Early Netherlandish Paintings: Rediscovery, Reception and Research. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2005.
4. Georges Hulin de Loo and René van Bastelaer, Peter Bruegel l'Ancien, son œuvre et son temps: étude historique, suivie des catalogues raisonnés de son œuvre dessiné et gravé, (ed Van Oest), 1905; Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages, 1919.
5. Purchased from the Sackville Gallery, London for £100. The painting is on canvas. Earlier suggestions that it had previously been transferred from wood have recently been discounted: Christina Currie and Dominique Allart, The Brueg[h]el Phenomenon, 3 vols, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout (Belgium), 2012 at 846, 848.
6. See generally Currie and Allart, op cit at 844 ff; Lyckle de Vries, “Bruegel’s Fall of Icarus: Ovid or Solomon?” Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 30, No. 1/2 (2003), pp. 4-18; and Karl Kilinski II, “Bruegel on Icarus: Inversions of the Fall”, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 67. Bd., H. 1 (2004), pp. 91-114.
7. The Beaux-Arts version is (73.5 by 112 cm (28.9 × 44.1 in)). The van Buuren version is 63 by 90 cm (25 × 35 in).
8. Currie and Allart, op cit at 844; De Vries, op cit at 3.
9. Currie and Allart, op cit at 845 ff. That work was probably a painting, but could merely have been a cartoon with colour annotations. Currie and Allart state that both copies were executed after Bruegel’s death, but reject any suggestion that either copy was executed by Bruegel’s son, Pieter Bruegel the Younger (at 864).
10. In the rest of this article, references to “the painting” mean that part of the Bruegel composition assumed to be common to both versions. Currie and Allart, op cit, believe that the van Buuren version is probably closest to the original.
11. De Vries, op cit at 5.
12. Man of War with the Fall of Icarus (c 1562) and River Landscape with Daedalus and Icarus (c 1553).
13. Man of War Seen between Two Galleys, with the Fall of Phaethon. A rocky fortress-like island also appears on the left in the painting and also in the etchings, other than the River Landscape.
14. Falling also features prominently in Bruegel’s non-mythological paintings such as The Fall of the Rebel Angels, the Conversion of Saul and the Parable of the Blind.
15. As we will see, the Icarus myth involves both actual and metaphorical human-bird transformations. Similarly, with the Phaethon myth, the mourners of Phaethon find themselves becoming transformed into a tree or a swan: Kilinski, op cit at 97.
16. Metamorphosis, Book 8, 183-235.
17. The Icarian Sea, later known as the Aegean Sea.
18. The viewpoint is similar to that in Return of the Hunters; see our article on Winter Landscapes.
19. Yoni Ascher, “Bruegel’s Plowman and the Fall of Art Historians”, IKON Vol 7/2014, 225ff. It is often assumed or stated that Ovid says that all three witnessed the flight, but this is evidently not so, as he refers to them disjunctively.
20. The faint trail of feathers from Icarus’ fall, and the inclusion of the Ovid-based workers from the myth are almost the only clues.
21. Kilinski, op cit at 103.
22. Anne Hollander, Moving Pictures, Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 1991 at 94 ff.
23. The sun disc may actually have been added to the painting by a later restorer: Currie and Allart, op cit at 855.
24. Of course, in reality, the higher Icarus went, the colder it would have been, as any pilot or mountaineer can attest, but let’s not quibble.
25. The generally more golden colour of the Beaux Arts version is due to the yellowing of the varnish. The van Buuren version is probably closer to the colour of the original: Currie and Allart, at 855, 863.
26. The name “Perdix” has, incidentally, been adopted in English as the species name for a type of partridge.
27. Currie and Allart, op cit at 854.
28. For overviews, see note 6.
29. See for example Kilinski, op cit at 94.
30. Foote, op cit at 149.
31. Alexander Nemerov, “The Flight of Form: Auden, Bruegel, and the Turn to Abstraction in the 1940s, Critical Inquiry, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Summer 2005), pp. 780-810, at 784.
32. Robert Baldwin, “Peasant Imagery and Bruegel's “Fall of Icarus”, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LV, 3, 1986, 101-114. Auden wrote about these experiences in a book, Journey to a War, with Christopher Isherwood (1938).
33. Luke 9: 57-62.
34. Alexander Wied (transl Anthony Lloyd), Bruegel, Bay Books, Sydney, 1980; Kilinski, op cit at 102. This proverb is also used is also used as a justification for the “death in the midst of life” interpretation discussed later.
35. Baldwin, op cit at 101.
36. Wied, op cit at 84. This also appears to be the view of William Carlos Williams in his poem, where he says that “unsignificantly / off the coast/ there was/ a splash quite unnoticed/ this was/ Icarus drowning”. In reality, of course, if Icarus had fallen from a great height, he would almost certainly have died on impact, rather than drowning.
37. Kilinski, op cit at 114.
38. Kilinski, op cit at 102-3.
39. De Vries, op cit at 8.
40. Currie and Allart, op cit at 844 - 845.
41. See discussion at de Vries, op cit at 7.
42. Baldwin, op cit.
43. E Matt Kavaler, Pieter Bruegel: Parables of Order and Enterprise, Cambridge MA, 1999, 62-76.
44. Kilinski, op cit at 96.
45. It should be noted, though, that Daedalus does not take the middle way in devising an extreme and unnatural method of escaping (though what the ‘middle way’ for escaping jail could be is not clear). For this, he is punished by contributing to the death of his son.
46. Ascher, op cit.
47. Nemerov, op cit at 790.
48. Nemerov, op cit at 791.
49. Jacob E Nyenhuis, Myth and the Creative Process: Michael Ayrton and the Myth of Daedalus, the Maze Maker, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2003, at 46.
50. Cited in Wied, op cit at 84.
51. Lauro de Bosis’ verse-drama Icaro.
52. For example, Harries refers to the scene as an allusion to the biblical story of Cain and Abel: Karsten Harries. Infinity and Perspective, Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press 2002, at 101; and De Vries, op cit at 10 contrasts the traditional working landscape and the emerging importance of ships in the development of trade and industry.
© Philip McCouat 2015
To return to your place in the text, just click your Back button
Back to HOME
1. Pieter Bruegel, also known as Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569). Before 1559 his name was also normally spelled “Brueghel”.
2. Timothy Foote, The World of Bruegel c 1525-1569, Time Life International (Nederland), 1971 at 16-17.
3. Foote, op cit at 18; Bernhard Ridderbos, Anne Van Buren, Henk Van Veen, Early Netherlandish Paintings: Rediscovery, Reception and Research. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2005.
4. Georges Hulin de Loo and René van Bastelaer, Peter Bruegel l'Ancien, son œuvre et son temps: étude historique, suivie des catalogues raisonnés de son œuvre dessiné et gravé, (ed Van Oest), 1905; Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages, 1919.
5. Purchased from the Sackville Gallery, London for £100. The painting is on canvas. Earlier suggestions that it had previously been transferred from wood have recently been discounted: Christina Currie and Dominique Allart, The Brueg[h]el Phenomenon, 3 vols, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout (Belgium), 2012 at 846, 848.
6. See generally Currie and Allart, op cit at 844 ff; Lyckle de Vries, “Bruegel’s Fall of Icarus: Ovid or Solomon?” Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 30, No. 1/2 (2003), pp. 4-18; and Karl Kilinski II, “Bruegel on Icarus: Inversions of the Fall”, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 67. Bd., H. 1 (2004), pp. 91-114.
7. The Beaux-Arts version is (73.5 by 112 cm (28.9 × 44.1 in)). The van Buuren version is 63 by 90 cm (25 × 35 in).
8. Currie and Allart, op cit at 844; De Vries, op cit at 3.
9. Currie and Allart, op cit at 845 ff. That work was probably a painting, but could merely have been a cartoon with colour annotations. Currie and Allart state that both copies were executed after Bruegel’s death, but reject any suggestion that either copy was executed by Bruegel’s son, Pieter Bruegel the Younger (at 864).
10. In the rest of this article, references to “the painting” mean that part of the Bruegel composition assumed to be common to both versions. Currie and Allart, op cit, believe that the van Buuren version is probably closest to the original.
11. De Vries, op cit at 5.
12. Man of War with the Fall of Icarus (c 1562) and River Landscape with Daedalus and Icarus (c 1553).
13. Man of War Seen between Two Galleys, with the Fall of Phaethon. A rocky fortress-like island also appears on the left in the painting and also in the etchings, other than the River Landscape.
14. Falling also features prominently in Bruegel’s non-mythological paintings such as The Fall of the Rebel Angels, the Conversion of Saul and the Parable of the Blind.
15. As we will see, the Icarus myth involves both actual and metaphorical human-bird transformations. Similarly, with the Phaethon myth, the mourners of Phaethon find themselves becoming transformed into a tree or a swan: Kilinski, op cit at 97.
16. Metamorphosis, Book 8, 183-235.
17. The Icarian Sea, later known as the Aegean Sea.
18. The viewpoint is similar to that in Return of the Hunters; see our article on Winter Landscapes.
19. Yoni Ascher, “Bruegel’s Plowman and the Fall of Art Historians”, IKON Vol 7/2014, 225ff. It is often assumed or stated that Ovid says that all three witnessed the flight, but this is evidently not so, as he refers to them disjunctively.
20. The faint trail of feathers from Icarus’ fall, and the inclusion of the Ovid-based workers from the myth are almost the only clues.
21. Kilinski, op cit at 103.
22. Anne Hollander, Moving Pictures, Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 1991 at 94 ff.
23. The sun disc may actually have been added to the painting by a later restorer: Currie and Allart, op cit at 855.
24. Of course, in reality, the higher Icarus went, the colder it would have been, as any pilot or mountaineer can attest, but let’s not quibble.
25. The generally more golden colour of the Beaux Arts version is due to the yellowing of the varnish. The van Buuren version is probably closer to the colour of the original: Currie and Allart, at 855, 863.
26. The name “Perdix” has, incidentally, been adopted in English as the species name for a type of partridge.
27. Currie and Allart, op cit at 854.
28. For overviews, see note 6.
29. See for example Kilinski, op cit at 94.
30. Foote, op cit at 149.
31. Alexander Nemerov, “The Flight of Form: Auden, Bruegel, and the Turn to Abstraction in the 1940s, Critical Inquiry, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Summer 2005), pp. 780-810, at 784.
32. Robert Baldwin, “Peasant Imagery and Bruegel's “Fall of Icarus”, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LV, 3, 1986, 101-114. Auden wrote about these experiences in a book, Journey to a War, with Christopher Isherwood (1938).
33. Luke 9: 57-62.
34. Alexander Wied (transl Anthony Lloyd), Bruegel, Bay Books, Sydney, 1980; Kilinski, op cit at 102. This proverb is also used is also used as a justification for the “death in the midst of life” interpretation discussed later.
35. Baldwin, op cit at 101.
36. Wied, op cit at 84. This also appears to be the view of William Carlos Williams in his poem, where he says that “unsignificantly / off the coast/ there was/ a splash quite unnoticed/ this was/ Icarus drowning”. In reality, of course, if Icarus had fallen from a great height, he would almost certainly have died on impact, rather than drowning.
37. Kilinski, op cit at 114.
38. Kilinski, op cit at 102-3.
39. De Vries, op cit at 8.
40. Currie and Allart, op cit at 844 - 845.
41. See discussion at de Vries, op cit at 7.
42. Baldwin, op cit.
43. E Matt Kavaler, Pieter Bruegel: Parables of Order and Enterprise, Cambridge MA, 1999, 62-76.
44. Kilinski, op cit at 96.
45. It should be noted, though, that Daedalus does not take the middle way in devising an extreme and unnatural method of escaping (though what the ‘middle way’ for escaping jail could be is not clear). For this, he is punished by contributing to the death of his son.
46. Ascher, op cit.
47. Nemerov, op cit at 790.
48. Nemerov, op cit at 791.
49. Jacob E Nyenhuis, Myth and the Creative Process: Michael Ayrton and the Myth of Daedalus, the Maze Maker, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2003, at 46.
50. Cited in Wied, op cit at 84.
51. Lauro de Bosis’ verse-drama Icaro.
52. For example, Harries refers to the scene as an allusion to the biblical story of Cain and Abel: Karsten Harries. Infinity and Perspective, Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press 2002, at 101; and De Vries, op cit at 10 contrasts the traditional working landscape and the emerging importance of ships in the development of trade and industry.
© Philip McCouat 2015
To return to your place in the text, just click your Back button
Back to HOME