During my trip to Berlin in 2008, I was attracted by many beautiful sights, such as the statues of the Berlin International Alte Museum or the complex works on the roads, modern exhibitions, and the wonderful architectural designs that indicate the culture of these peoples, but these arts did not attract me as much as the painting “In Lamentation of Icarus” by the English artist attracted me. Derby Herbert It hangs in a poor library, one of the ancient libraries in Berlin. So my curiosity prompted me to ask the owner of the library, who is an old man wearing heavy glasses, then… I asked who shouted this painting?
While he was reading a book about the arts of romanticism, he raised his head and said: This is a painting of Icarus by Darber, and at this period I did not know who this artist was..! So I asked him to provide me with information about this artist, so he told me a short story of Greek mythology, which is the famous story “Icarus.” From that moment, my interest in this story increased, which was repeated in drawing by the artist Frederick Leighton and the artist Charles La Brune (1619-1690). But in Herbert’s painting, the stage of study and mastery of the work reached the highest levels, and he presented tremendous ability in it, such that you are drawn to the minute details of the texture of the feathers on the wing, and the study of details of Icarus’s body, where he drew several sketches of the model while lying down. We also see the anatomy of the three nymphs and the distribution of color on their bodies in the painting. He combined shade and color in emotional harmony. He also mastered the use of balanced form and how to draw feelings of grief and pity in the expression of the three young women on the murdered Icarus.
And the distribution of color in a spiral manner throughout the painting. It appears from the sketches of the work that Herbert brought back three models of young women and a bronze-skinned young man who meets all the specifications presented in the mythological novel Icarus. The story was circulated in several poetic novels by a group of Romantic era writers, but Herbert used the same novel. Layton depicted it in his writings about his painting (Daedalus – Icarus). Herbert depicted it in detail after Icarus fell into the lake, where he was picked up by three nymphs.
As a simple overview of this great work, Simon Toole wrote in the book (Herbert Draper – A Life Study) that Herbert decided to paint the painting influenced by the relationship of father and son and sacrifice in the novel Icarus. He also insisted that it be one of his greatest works, so he had difficulty finding models and was confused about two people. They represent the character of Icarus, and in the end he chose the most suitable of them for the written description after making many sketches of them. Unlike the three women, they were friends and were drawn in more than one painting. Regarding the subject, Simon says that Herbert took the design from Leighton, the author of the painting (Daedulus and Icarus – 1869), but he changed the form as a follow-up to the events of the story after drawing a group of sketches for it that led to this amazing result.
Write by Artist Asaad Bunashi
