"And, as the mother bird
When first her offspring from the nest essays
The air, he hovered anxious, cheering on
The boy to follow, and with fatal art
Enjoining thus or thus his wings to ply
As he example gave."
For a while all went well, and they had covered a long distance, when Icarus,—
"Elate
With that new power, more daring grew, and left
His guide, and higher, with ambitious flight
Soared, aiming at the skies!"
This was the very danger against which Dædalus had warned his son.
"Upon his wings
The rays of noon struck scorching, and dissolved
The waxen compact of their plumes:—and down
He toppled, beating wild with naked arms
The unsustaining air, and with vain cry
Shrieking for succour from his sire!
The sea that bears his name received him as he fell."
Dædalus, having buried his son on the island of Icaria, proceeded on his way and came at last to Sicily, where he lived to finish some important works of architecture.
Our illustration shows some phases of Van Dyck's art with which we are least familiar. He rarely interested himself in mythological stories, though such subjects were common among his contemporaries. The painter has caught in this case the essential spirit of the myth. There are few of his pictures also in which he expressed so well the sense of motion. The inclination of the body of Icarus, the poise of the wings, and the gesture of the right hand all contribute admirably to this end.
Here, too, we see how carefully he studied the nude figure, and how well he understood the principles of modelling. The foreshortening of the right arm and hand of Icarus is a clever piece of technical workmanship. The composition is well planned to fill the canvas.