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Giulio Romano

Copy after Giulio Romano's Fall of Icarus

after 1536
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over red chalk, heightened with lead white

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

Having flown too close to the sun, Icarus plummets from the sky as the wax securing his makeshift wings melts, and the straps unravel. His father Daedelus, who invented the wings, watches in horror as his son begins a deadly fall. Punished for failing to heed his father’s warning and attempting to enter the realm of the gods, Icarus was a moral reminder to Renaissance viewers of human fallibility and the risks of excessive pride.

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