Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
c. 1560 · Oil on canvas (transferred from panel) · Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
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About this work
- Artist
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
- Year
- c. 1560
- Medium
- Oil on canvas (transferred from panel)
- Original size
- 73.5 × 111 cm
- Collection
- Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
A ploughman turns his furrows on a cliff above a calm bay, a shepherd gazes at the sky and an angler sits at the water's edge, while a merchant ship sails past; only a pair of legs splashing into the sea near the ship shows that Icarus, who flew too close to the sun on wax wings, has fallen. The story is from Ovid, and it is the only subject from classical mythology in Bruegel's work, but here the event goes unnoticed amid everyday labour. The picture is widely considered not to be by Bruegel himself but an early copy, perhaps from the 1560s, of a lost original from about 1558: technical study in the 1990s, including radiocarbon dating of the canvas, cast doubt on his authorship, and the museum describes the composition, not the execution, as certainly his, though newer technical research has reopened the question. It was found to be a panel later transferred to canvas, and has been damaged by relining. Bought by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1912, it inspired W. H. Auden's 1938 poem Musée des Beaux-Arts.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A ploughman above a sea-green bay with a tall ship and a low golden sun, Icarus a tiny splash, for a study, living room or hallway at 24×36 in natural wood. A sage, stone or pale gold wall; it pairs with Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (c. 1560)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, study or library, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Landscape with the Fall of Icarus in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Landscape with the Fall of Icarus painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
