The Lament for Icarus is a painting by Herbert James Draper, showing dead Icarus, surrounded by lamenting nymphs. The wings of Icarus are based on the bird-of-paradise pattern.[1] In 1898 the painting was bought from the Royal Academy exhibition through The Chantrey Bequest, a public fund for purchasing modern art bequeathed by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, R.A..[2] The Lament for Icarus was subsequently awarded the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris.[3]
According to Dr. Justine Hopkins, Draper identifies Icarus "with the other heroes of the Pre-Raphaelites and symbolists, who, like James Dean half a century later, manage to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse".[