Neapolitan Master (circa 1680) - The Fall Of Icarus (after A Composition By Pp Rubens)

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. An interesting version, in a distinctly Neapolitan style, dating from around 1680, of one of the famous compositions by Rubens and Gowy commissioned by Philip IV for a magnificent series of mythological subjects intended for the Torre de la Parada. The impeccable execution is in keeping with, though distinctly different, the vibrant touch of the prince of Flemish painters. The canvas known as "The Fall of Icarus," part of Peter Paul Rubens' commission for the Torre de la Parada (circa 1636-1638), and whose definitive version in the Prado is attributed to artists in his circle such as Jacob Pieter Gowy, depicts the tragic climax of Ovid's Metamorphoses: the moment when the wax melts in the sun and Daedalus's son succumbs to his ambition and gravity. The composition, inspired by an original sketch by Rubens (now in Brussels), emphasizes the most dramatic moment, showing Icarus's spectacular fall, which evokes iconographic parallels with that of Phaethon, both ignoring their father's warnings. In the Prado painting, Gowy introduces a narrative innovation compared to Rubens's version: a beach in the background where Daedalus and Icarus can be seen walking, illustrating the moment before the escape—a common addition in illustrated editions of Ovid to illuminate the story. This Flemish masterpiece finds a powerful echo in its 1680 version, a time when the Parthenopean school, under the influence of Roman grandiloquence and tenebrism, was obsessed with pathos and movement. While the original version by Rubens and his workshop emphasized the strength of the composition and the heroic anatomy, the Neapolitan execution likely intensified the drama and the interplay of light and shadow. Southern Italian brushes would have heightened the contrast between Icarus's pale, precipitate body and the engulfing waters, employing a dense sfumato to accentuate the fatalism. This Neapolitan reinterpretation, which captures the spectacular nature of Rubens's composition, imbues it with the tragic spirituality and somber theatricality characteristic of the late Italian Baroque, making the hero's fall a metaphor for human fragility in the face of excessive pride—all within a period when dynamism and suffering were the driving forces of painting. Image dimensions without frame: 60 x 72 cm / 81 x 93 cm with a magnificent custom-made, historicist-inspired frame.