Title

Dedalus und Icarus

Period

1550-1600;

Geographic

Crete

Ancient Greece

Description

After creating the labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, Daedalus was taken prisoner by King Minos. He came up with a way to escape that did not involve traveling by land or sea, as to avoid being recaptured. He gathered up feathers and created human sized wings and fastened them together with string and bees’-wax. He made a pair of wings for himself and a pair for his son, Icarus. Before taking flight, Daedalus instructed his son not to fly too close to the water or the moisture will ruin the wings, and not too close to the sun as the heat would melt the wax. As depicted in the engraving, Icarus did not listen to his father and flew too close to the sun. The wax melted, and Icarus fell into the sea.

Image Creator

Virgil Solis (Engraver)

Type

Text

Woodcut Engraving

Identifier

mta:22834

Language

ger

Source Name

P. Ouidij Nasonis, deß Sinnreichen und hochverstendigen Poeten, Metamorphoses oder Verwandlung, mit schönen figuren gezieret, auch kurzen Argumenten und außlegungen erkläret, und in Teutsche Reymen gebracht, durch Johann Spreng von Augspurg [Publius Ovidius Naso, the Ingenious and Highly Understandable Poet, Metamorphoses or Transformations, Adorned with Beautiful Images, and also descriptions of Short Arguments and Explanations, Brought into German Rhymes by Johann Spreng of Augsburg]

Parent Collection

1564 Frankfurt Spreng

Image

mta_22834_OBJ.jpg

Collection

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Subject

Daedalus

Icarus

King Minos

Roman Mythology

Greek Mythology