River Landscape with Daedalus and Icarus
Original title: River Landscape with Daedalus and Icarus
kurzbeschreibung
Simon Novellanus combines an expansive river landscape with the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in this etching from around 1595. Sailing ships rest on the water, a castle rises above a hill, and high in the sky the two mythological figures hover. The sheet survives in the first of two states and measures 26.5 x 33.7 cm.
Description
A river divides the image, leading from the foreground, where several sailing ships lie, into the distance. Hills and mountains rise on either side and at the back, one of them crowned by a castle or tower. Above the upper edge of the landscape, two small figures glide through the air, pointing to the Icarus legend. Gradations of gray and fine hatching give the view plasticity; the arrangement feels balanced, with the river as its axis.
Context
Novellanus worked as a Dutch printmaker around 1600. At that time landscape was gaining increasing weight in art, often enlivened by figures from mythology. The sheet takes its place in Flemish landscape printmaking as shaped by Hieronymus Cock, among others. The fall of Icarus was a popular subject through which the danger of hubris could be read.
Impact
The calm, balanced layout draws the eye along the river into the depth. Against the wide landscape, the tiny figures in the sky hardly carry weight, yet they give the sheet a narrative pull. The clean linework and stepped gray tones contribute to a collected, thoughtful mood.
Technique
The lines were drawn into an etching ground on a copper plate, then etched; the result was printed on paper. In the first of two states, the sheet probably still lacks the later reworkings. The format of 26.5 x 33.7 cm corresponds to the print on paper.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)