Art

=**//Art//** =

====Many visual artists allude to famous people from the past, moments in history, or characters from literature as subjects for their work. For example, several artists have alluded to Icarus, a well-known character from Greek Mythology who was warned not to fly too low, or too high when trying to escape from Crete with wings of wax. Icarus learned too late the value of doing things in moderation-- as he fell to his death when he ignored his father’s warning and flew close enough to the sun for his wings to melt. ====

Can you find Icarus in the water? What does Brueghel choose to make as the focus of the painting? Why not Icarus?
 Landscape with the Fall of Icarus Pieter Brueghel, 1558 Minos decided to not make Icarus the focul point of the painting, to show that people didn't really care, when he plunged to his death, and were so caught up in their everyday lives, that they didn't really notice when Icarus came hureling down.

Consider Matisse's rendition of Icarus' fall. Notice the differences between the two paintings. How might these differences point at each painter's perspective or ideas about the ancient myth?

Icarus Henri Matisse, 1947

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Medusa in her early drawn form.



"The nymph Echo offended the goddess Hera by keeping her talking, thus preventing her from spying on an amour of her husband, Zeus; in punishment, she was deprived of speech, except for the power to repeat the last words of another". This picture, shows Echo spying on her love, Narcissus, when he spies himself in a pond and falls in love with himself.



When, in reality, Hermes had stolen some sheep from Apollo, and gave him the lyre to earn back his forgiveness. This picture was posted by Mark Horvath. Rembrandt's //The Rape of Europe// is drawn from mythology. Europa was a Phoenician who had come to the attention of Zeus. Enamored with her the Greek God transformed himself into a bull. Europa with her sisters tended the herd and she choose to climb upon the back of the bull who immediately transported her away to the island of Crete where she became the Queen.




 * Hecate**

Hecate is a complex work that draws together allusions from Greek mythology, several of Shakespeare's plays, and Blake's own poetry. The three figures represent the tripartite nature of the goddess who in Greek mythology combined in her person aspects of the moon, earth and underworld, with power over the sky, earth and sea; she was also associated with witchcraft, magic and the supernatural. -Jean-Paul M
 * william blake 1875**,