A variety of mythological stories take place throughout art history, many of which are well known for containing strong emotional and moral messages. The stories are used to teach a moral lesson or understand why things are a certain way, or how they came to be. For example, deserts were created when Phaethon was driving his father’s sun chariot, essentially burning certain parts of the earth such as Africa to form deserts. Similarly, each phenomenon has a meaning or message behind it which is one of the main purposes for why a story was created. Artists, throughout several different time periods, attempt to depict what they assume to be the main focus or climactic scene of each myth, and portray it through their artworks. These artworks then
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One of these examples is “Icarus and Daedalus, Lord Frederic Leighton, ca. 1869, Private collection”. In this artwork, Mr. Leighton successfully depicted all three of the key elements: Icarus arrogance, the red cloth, and Daedalus’ seriousness, and did so in an amazing because he incorporated them in different artistic ways. He did not simply express any hubristic emotions on Icarus’s face, but rather through other artistic methods. For instance, the way Icarus is standing in an open form with the type of way that his body is angled in contrapposto really captures that arrogant type of attitude that has. The intensity of color on the red cloth is also saturated, which indicates that death and/or despair is not too far behind. Along with that, the painting also focuses the light on Icarus’s body, with everything around him being of a darker hue. This intensity of light shows that he is the center of attention of this artwork. Daedalus also has a serious, and somewhat slightly concerned look on his face as he is looking up at his son. The form of this artwork shows Daedalus saying something important to Icarus, but Icarus is hubristically looking away as if to ignore his father. The light colors that are depicted in the background, such as the light blue sky with the white wing, make this scene display a type of calm that is seen right before a big storm. There is also a strong value contrast between the white wing and the black shape that is right next to it to symbolize the good and bad. The white wing is behind Daedalus while the black figure is right behind Icarus in the way he is facing. This hints that Daedalus is trying to help but Icarus’s dark hubris beginning to take
One of these examples is “Icarus and Daedalus, Lord Frederic Leighton, ca. 1869, Private collection”. In this artwork, Mr. Leighton successfully depicted all three of the key elements: Icarus arrogance, the red cloth, and Daedalus’ seriousness, and did so in an amazing because he incorporated them in different artistic ways. He did not simply express any hubristic emotions on Icarus’s face, but rather through other artistic methods. For instance, the way Icarus is standing in an open form with the type of way that his body is angled in contrapposto really captures that arrogant type of attitude that has. The intensity of color on the red cloth is also saturated, which indicates that death and/or despair is not too far behind. Along with that, the painting also focuses the light on Icarus’s body, with everything around him being of a darker hue. This intensity of light shows that he is the center of attention of this artwork. Daedalus also has a serious, and somewhat slightly concerned look on his face as he is looking up at his son. The form of this artwork shows Daedalus saying something important to Icarus, but Icarus is hubristically looking away as if to ignore his father. The light colors that are depicted in the background, such as the light blue sky with the white wing, make this scene display a type of calm that is seen right before a big storm. There is also a strong value contrast between the white wing and the black shape that is right next to it to symbolize the good and bad. The white wing is behind Daedalus while the black figure is right behind Icarus in the way he is facing. This hints that Daedalus is trying to help but Icarus’s dark hubris beginning to take