Critical & Contextual Studies A2 (Exam - Sun) Part 1 (Isabella Daly)

Isabella Daly 225075 – New College Swindon 66528

Critical & Contextual Studies A2 Exam Question – Sun Part 1

Having browsed through the different exam questions, in the end I decided to choose the questioned titled ‘Sun’ where to start off with I will personally be looking into a series of different paintings based around Greek/Roman Mythology that have a relation to the sun, whether that be through the Gods themselves or the story being told. My reasoning for going down this route is due to my own great personal interest for Greek Mythology, so by choosing a series of different paintings based around this, it allows me to thoroughly engross myself in gaining the knowledge from analysing these pieces.

The first painting that I will bee looking at is ’The Lament of Icarus’ by Herbert James Draper in 1898 in oil on canvas at a size of 70.8 x 59 in. Now before I go into looking specifically at the painting, I decided to first have a quick summarise of the story so to ensure that I have a clear understanding of the narrative for the painting which comes from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, personally one of my favourite books Summary:- • Daedalus is an Athenian a very successful craftsman, however, he is also full of jealousy as once he realises his nephew is also talented by inventing the saw, he’s concerned about him being more gifted than he is and throws him off the Acropolis. (Some say that he fell to his death, while others say that Athena was watching this happen and transformed him into a partridge to save him). • It was after this that due to feelings of guilt both Daedalus and his son Icarus flee to the island of Crete, while the two are here, Daedalus befriends the islands King, Minos, who then asks him to first of all build a cow suit for Pasiphae so she can get along with a bull. As a result of this her relationship with the bull results in a horrific half human, half bull hybrid beast being born named The Minotaur. Quite predictably, King Minos then asks Daedalus to create somewhere in which to hold the Minotaur, this being the famous Labyrinth. • The Minotaur then demands that he receives human sacrifices, so every nine years the king sends seven young men and women into the labyrinth to meet their doom. One of these Victims is the hero Theseus who decided to instead fight back and kill the Minotaur.

• King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, falls madly in love with Theseus and seeks Daedalus, being the labyrinths creator for guidance in helping Theseus safely navigate around the maze. In order to help, Daedalus gives Theseus a ball of yarn and tells him to trail this behind him – sure enough this plan works and after slaying that Minotaur he manages to escape. (Theseus and Ariadne then runaway and leave Crete together). • Quite naturally King Minos’ isn’t happy with Daedalus for helping Theseus and locks both him and his son in the labyrinth and then has every ship searched and monitored, so even if the two escape they can’t leave the island. Daedalus doesn’t let this stop can’t leave the island. Daedalus doesn’t let this stop him though - knowing that both the land and water are on constant guard, he hatches a plan to escape via flying away making wings out of feathers and wax. • Once the wings are complete and have been tested, before the two set off on their escape Daedalus gives some warnings to his son: he should follow his father closely, flying at middle height. If her flies too low the seawater will dampen his wings, and if he flies too high the sun will melt the wings. Even after giving his son these instructions he’s still nervous about the journey and cries while tying his sons wings to him.

Regardless they set off and as they fly over Crete people all across the land gaze up at the two in astonishment since no human has ever achieved flight before. • In the moment of excitement, thrill and joy, Icarus forgets his fathers words and begin to fly higher and higher, sure enough getting too close to the sun leading to the heat melting the wax and his wings falling apart. Icarus then plummets down into the sea crying out to his father, Daedalus tries to save him but its too late, he has drowned and the one thing he can find is the feathers floating on the water.

For the first time ever, he curses his art as that’s what got him into this mess and names this part of the sea The Icarian sea.

Now that I’ve gained my brief understanding of the narrative that this painting is based upon, I can now start to actually delve in and start analysing the work. In this piece the main composition consists of our foolish young man, Icarus, who having fallen to his death has been found by three water nymphs, lying limp and lifeless while still being in a state of perfection which clearly shows that after reading learning the story, that this painting is incorrect as Icarus’ wings got ruined from flying to close to the sun and falling into the sea, where as in this depiction his wings are still intact and fastened to his body. As to whether or not Draper did this deliberately or accidentally due to not understanding the story correctly is unknown. However, what is interesting is that this piece was painted some forty years after the publication of the ’On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin in 1859, which gave along with giving an opinion on the positive direction and evolution that mankind is taking, is also gave some slightly more obscure and overwhelming ideas of the past. It was then popular throughout this period of time for both art and literature to focus in on this theme of origins, the mythical history of man and his struggles between both animal and human nature. With this particular subject matter coming from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, which was a collection of stories entirely based upon what the title says, something metamorphosing from one thing to another.

Another unusual aspect that is to be noted is the wings attached to Icarus, in the myth we are told that Daedalus fashioned the wings himself, and from this depiction this isn’t clearly shown, rather these wings have been painted to be based on that of the bird-ofparadise, a type of bird that had its plumage frequently used by the societies of New Guinea as part of rituals and dress. In the early sixteenth century when these birds were first brought back to Europe from trading expeditions, there was a sum of confusion about them as the native traders often removed both their wings and feet so they may be used as part of decoration and the explorers not knowing this. This then lead to the belief that the birds never landed and where permanently kept in flight as a result of their plumes.

Alongside this they were also told that these were the “birds of the Gods” (hence the name bird of paradise), which links back to the use of them within our painting here and how Icarus has been shown in such an idealised form, near perfection and that he did not willingly choose his landed but it was forced upon him as a result of going against the laws of nature.

Another thing that interesting is our specific depiction of Icarus, different sources all say different things about the age of Icarus as it nowhere specifically states a number of any sort. Instead there’s a mixture of information ranging from his father repeatedly calling him “Boy” in written text, which gives and indication of him being a young child, while there are other translations from the original language that show certain words leading to us assuming he is a ‘young man’ instead. Perhaps this also leads into why we see the nymphs surrounding him, as this might not have been the case if he wasn’t presented in a somewhat athletic and idealised form with hardly any clothing but instead as a young boy. Going off from this, as to why three water nymphs have specifically been chosen could link to the idea of the three fates in Greek Mythology which collective together choose when a life is born, how long a life is and when a life ends.

While Icarus may not be wearing much clothing at all, he is quite noticeably wearing some white and red fabric, the white possibly indicating that although he was foolish, he didn’t do anything wrong nor hurt anyone, showing that he’s in fact pure, while the red could symbolise his death to counterbalance the fact he’s shown in a perfection condition. Looking at the background, we can see that there’s a shadow being cast from the cliffs, this shows us that the sun is currently setting which can symbolically translate to the recent ending of a life, in this case, our main figure, Icarus’, not only through how the sun killed him just moments ago and its currently setting, but in general the ending of the day commencing can also represent the passing of time and a life. This can also be related to the tanned colour of Icarus’ skin which is shown to have considerably more colour than that of the nymphs, a further notion to his flight

The next painting I will be looking at is yet another piece based around the myth of Daedalus and Icarus titled ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’ by Pieter Bruegal in oil on canvas at 28.9 in × 44.1in at around 1560, however, the exact date of which this is painted is unkown due to the fact that the surving piece is actually said to be a copy of the original and it isn’t signed.

While both these paintings are representing the same story, the two are actually very different in the way that they do this. The previous showed Icarus as this big centre figures in a perfect, idealised form who has been found dead with these water nymphs around him acting concerned – almost as if he’s a hero, someone who didn’t deserve to die. In comparison, this painting is almost the opposite! In the very foreground we see a ploughman working in his field, behind him a shepherd with his small flock of sheep, to the right a fisherman and in the background a small bay of ships.

In fact the only indication of the myth we have within this painting is in the right hand corner, in the sea where we can see a pair of legs sticking out of the water, belonging to Icarus. When referencing Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this is quite a bizarre decision taken by the painter as there’s a line within the myth that says: ”Some, while catching fish with a trembling rod either a shepherd leaning on his staff or a plowman on a plow saw these and was stunned, and they who were able to snatch the sky, he believed were gods.” which as we can clearly see from the previous painting, all the attention was paid to Icarus, whereas this painting strongly contrasts against this idea by barely even highlighting or creating an emphasis on his presence with even all the figures represented ignoring him and carrying on as normal, which is the exact point of this piece. Displaying mankind's indifference and ignorance towards the idea of suffering but also the foolishness of Icarus and how he doesn’t deserve to be seen as a brave man, hero or anything of the like.

Although I’ve already stated that from choosing my question of ‘The Sun’ that I will be focussing in on Greek gods and mythology, but where possible, I feel like it’s also important to talk about the actual representation of the stuff itself within my work. Due to the nature of this landscape painting the sun has naturally been depicted in the background, in this case specifically along the horizon line of the sea which can see is just about to set and has actually been shown quite bizarrely in my opinion. Considering as the sun is the one of the key, most important elements of the story, it has been portrayed very modestly and casually with the only reasoning for why we do indeed notice it so much is due to aerial perspective that is shown within the piece. This is when the colours used throughout the painting start off in the foreground as being quite dark and get lighter the further you move more into the background.

This is when the colours used throughout the painting start off in the foreground as being quite dark and get lighter the further you move more into the background. Alongside this being a very delicate and soft way of highlighting the sun, it’s also realistic, and although this painting is related to an ancient Greek myth, as I’ve already spoken about, one of the most important themes of this piece is the fact that not a big dramatic scene is being created due to Icarus’ fall but rather, everyone is carrying on as normal and that actually a very realistic and natural scene has been depicted in this piece. If it weren’t for the title we wouldn’t even know that these legs sticking out of the water even belong to Icarus. This helps highlight the fact that we have an everyday scene before us and how the sun is one of the most important aspects that helps enable a “normal” day to take place. The use of the Aerial perspective also helps in putting a great emphasis on this idea due too our eye traveling backwards and forwards between this transition of foreground to background which is also helped due to the angle of which the composition has been placed. Instead of a standard bottom to top, straight horizontal line between the foreground and background, instead the artists has chosen to be depict the piece at a diagonal angle travelling from the bottom left to the top right of the piece, a more unusual choice that instantly making the composition more intriguing to the viewer.

Aestheticism:-

Having now looked at two paintings produced in two very different styles but of the same myth, I can’t help but be drawn to the first piece more which was actually produced under the bracket of Aestheticism style work which had a strong emphasis on producing pieces from the influence of ancient myths with this being a route of subject matter that I’ve already stated I want to go down.

So before going in and looking at any other pieces of work, I’m first going to spend a moment looking into the genre of Aestheticism artwork first to enable me in having a better understanding for the future works that I’ll be looking at.

The movement itself initially was influenced from that of the Pre-Raphaelites that emerged in the 19th Century with artists such as Millais and Rossetti, that was shortly followed by the Aesthetic movement which was heavily based fuelled by the English and French whereby the main priorities for painters where based upon mood, appearance and pleasure and their greater importance over work that had an emphasis on meaning and purpose, something that I think is very prevalent within a lot of artists and their craft even to this day. There was one comment in particular from a French commentator who made an informed judgement about the Opera ‘Patience’ (1881) by Gilbert and Sullivan saying ”Everyone began to worship the beautiful…The female Aethete wore her hair cropped and her dress was of sombre tint and 15th century design. The male Aethete, on the contray, let his locks grew long.” which as a comment was really naive and ignornant resulting in a lot of negative press about pure aethetiscim when really he was overlooking so much. The movement strived for the embrace of a number of more complex ideas that all came together through one vital concept: the importance of the artists object itself being seperate from all social, political, religious or more rationals and purely focusing on just the visual engagement with the said object(s). (This prooved to be such a drastic and dramatic contrast to the traditional victorian values without which movements such as Moderism would have struggled to have found a solid ground to devlop in). A phrase that acurately sums this up ‘art for art’s sake’ became popularized (although not originated) by the french poet and art critic Theophile Guaiter (181172) which although suggested ideas of meaingless self indulgence and affectation, it was originally intended to highlight the great level of skill and crafstmanship all these painters possessed. One of which being the way painters of this genre manipulated colours; they would use subtle yet complex techniques for colour blending that would result in the viewer to simply contempla a painting just by an object of decorativity and allow oneself to disregard the meaning behind the subject matter in order to full appreciate this artistic value.

As we now move on after taking a moment to look into the genre of Aestheticism, the next piece that I will be looking at is titled ‘The garden of Hesperides’ painted in 1892 in oil on canvas at a diameter of 66.5in by Lord Frederick Leighton, which as we can see below, this is a circular painting depicting three young women laying beneath a tree in the later afternoon with a snake. These three women are in fact the Hesperides and are said to be the nymphs of the evening and sunset and tended the blissful yet remote garden situated to the far west. They are said to be guardians of the tree shown, as this is a very special tree that produces golden apples and is said to be a present given by Earth to Hera when she marries Zeus (her son). What this also helps to do is form a religious connection Although, Hera stated that she didn’t trust as this whole scene that’s been created reflects the Hesperides as she was convinced they that of God’s garden of paradise and how there would try and eat some of the apples, was eternal life before the fall due to sin and so she placed a dragon in the garden temptation. This was actually a highly apparent as well to help protect the tree. method used by Victorian artists for bringing What’s unusual about this piece together the ideas from classical myths and is that while the “dragon” is stories with religious messages. present within the painting it’s What I find to be quite interesting about been represented in the form this image is the due to the composition of a serpent being entwined and the lavishly used warm, soft toned around the tree and the central colours of this painting, it poses as an figure. The use of the serpent unusual contrast as to what’s just about to overall makes the effect of the happen: the theft of apples is well know painting far more relaxed and as one of the Heracles’ Ten Labours, while idyllic as well as helping to this particular image shows the Hesperides gently lead your eye around the singing to the unsleeping dragon at the end of piece due to the smooth swooping the world, Hercules is actually travelling toward structure of the snakes body and how it’s the garden where he plans to slay the dragon and coiled around the figures. steal the apples.

As I’ve already touched on, the colour palette used throughout this piece helps to give a very relaxed and easy feelings of comfort that almost makes your eyes heavy and sleepy, this has been allowed due to the specific time of day chosen to be captured within this piece, the halfway point between day and night, a brief moment of transition, almost like it’s reflect the sudden change that will occur from this moment of bliss to the moment of destruction as Hercules arrives and turns the entire moment on its head.

While Leighton didn’t remain true to the myth as far as the serpent/dragon goes, he did remain true to the ideas of how the garden is spoken about and how the nymphs are a feature within this, such as how the figure of the far left shown in a gown of bright orange, lays back singing whilst also playing the lyre. The two other sisters seem to be somewhat less with reality, the centre sisters who lays with the snake entwined around her, lazily extends her arm out to it, as if to caress or give some affection like she’s lost amongst the snakes trance, with her light pink flowing dress perhaps linking back to the religious idea, of purity and innocence being corrupted through sin and it’s trance? As for the sister on the far right, shown in a gown of a dark brown olive colour, sleeps on the shoulder of the middle sister, it’s as if there’s a transition moving across from the left-handed figure, along past the central to the right-handed. As a result their positions and dazed dreamy expressions, have the eye gently move across the painting, really causing an effect within the viewer of possessing these feelings themselves.

As for why Leighton decided to not follow the exacts of the myth, I’ve already mentioned about the allowance for the cross between the myths and religious ideas to be present, but within this period of work, it seems clear that he was influenced by the Aestheticists ( a group of artists) who proclaimed art’s purpose is to please the senses rather than portray a literal meaning which we can definitely agree that this painting achieves to a high level.

Another element that helps project and compliments these themes and feelings through the painting is actually due to the circular frame used and the lack of harsh corners and edges.

From various drawings we know that Leighton did originally intend for the figures to be enclosed in a circle, this became apparent to be a recurring decision within his work for using these types of frames.