The following combines the timelines of several men and their subsequent works of art. It starts in 1558 with Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, and ends in 2020 with myself and a different Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
In the middle there are at least two other depictions of Icarus, three iterations of the sculpture Triumph of Light, two possible counts of plagiarism, the planting of a forest, the cutting down of that same forest, and one episode of a TV western.
1558, and 1560 -Two paintings are made depicting the story of Icarus falling into the sea between Cyclades and Asia Minor, what is now known as the Icarian Sea. Both paintings are named Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
One is thought to be made by Pieter Bruegel the Elder a leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. One is made by an unknown copyist. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium owns one, the Daniel van Buuren Museum owns the other. Which one is the original or the copy has been contested over the years.
1912 - The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium acquires the first version of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus from the Sackville Gallery in London.
1953 - The second version of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, this one on panels and generally considered inferior, is acquired by Daniel van Buuren for his private house in Brussels. This version includes a depiction of Daedalus still in the air.
1960 - The Hudson Review publishes Williams Carlos Williams poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
1996 - Following a technical examination of the painting hanging in The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, attribution of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus comes into question .
1998 - Further radiocarbon dating finds that Pieter Bruegel the Elder could not have painted Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
2006 - Another set of tests by Université libre de Bruxelles challenges the 1998 results. It is believed Pieter Bruegel the Elder did, in fact, paint Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
One is thought to be made by Pieter Bruegel the Elder a leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. One is made by an unknown copyist. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium owns one, the Daniel van Buuren Museum owns the other. Which one is the original or the copy has been contested over the years.
1912 - The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium acquires the first version of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus from the Sackville Gallery in London.
1953 - The second version of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, this one on panels and generally considered inferior, is acquired by Daniel van Buuren for his private house in Brussels. This version includes a depiction of Daedalus still in the air.
1960 - The Hudson Review publishes Williams Carlos Williams poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
1996 - Following a technical examination of the painting hanging in The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, attribution of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus comes into question .
1998 - Further radiocarbon dating finds that Pieter Bruegel the Elder could not have painted Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
2006 - Another set of tests by Université libre de Bruxelles challenges the 1998 results. It is believed Pieter Bruegel the Elder did, in fact, paint Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
1860 - Antoine Wiertz starts his series Les Quatre âges de l'humanité (”The Four Ages of Humanity”).
He intends to make four monumental sculptures in plaster from 1860 to 1862. The first of which is Naissance des Passions.
1861 - Wiertz complets Les Luttes.
1862 - Wiertz completes the third in the series Triomphe de la Lumière (”A Triumph of Light”). He never completes the fourth.
This same year he envisioned a large copper version of Triomphe de la Lumière overlooking the city of Dinant. It is never completed.
1865 - Wiertz dies. At his wishes, he is buried following egyptian burial practices. A burial shroud is made of his face, and his embalmed heart is sent to the city of Dinant.
That same year Victor De Haen makes a copy of Triomphe de la Lumière and places it at the center of Dinant. It is much smaller than Wiertz envisioned, and made of plaster.
Some point - The statue is moved to a new location and remade.
1870 - Frederic Auguste Bartholdi starts designing the Statue of Liberty. It is said by some that Bartholdi plagiarized Wiertz, simply removing the man, and replacing the sword with a book.
He intends to make four monumental sculptures in plaster from 1860 to 1862. The first of which is Naissance des Passions.
1861 - Wiertz complets Les Luttes.
1862 - Wiertz completes the third in the series Triomphe de la Lumière (”A Triumph of Light”). He never completes the fourth.
This same year he envisioned a large copper version of Triomphe de la Lumière overlooking the city of Dinant. It is never completed.
1865 - Wiertz dies. At his wishes, he is buried following egyptian burial practices. A burial shroud is made of his face, and his embalmed heart is sent to the city of Dinant.
That same year Victor De Haen makes a copy of Triomphe de la Lumière and places it at the center of Dinant. It is much smaller than Wiertz envisioned, and made of plaster.
Some point - The statue is moved to a new location and remade.
1870 - Frederic Auguste Bartholdi starts designing the Statue of Liberty. It is said by some that Bartholdi plagiarized Wiertz, simply removing the man, and replacing the sword with a book.
1851 - Adolph Sutro leaves Baltimore (after emigrating from Prussia) for California and arrives in San Francisco. He opens a series of cigar shops.
1860 - Sutro leaves San Francisco for Virginia City, Nevada, after silver was found in the Comstock Lode with plans to continue selling cigars.
Some point - Sutro comes up with an idea for a tunnel to drain the water from the mines, this idea would become known as the Sutro Tunnel.
1879 - Sutro sells his Comstock Lode shares and returns to San Francisco. He becomes one of its biggest land owners.
Also in 1879 - Sutro purchases Mount Parnassus and begins planting Eucalyptus trees on it. The hill is later renamed Mount Sutro.
1887 - Sutro erects a plaster copy of Wiertz’s statue and places it at the geographic center of San Francisco atop Mount Olympus. It is dedicated on Thanksgiving day.
1892 - Sutro builds the Sutro Baths. (It will eventually burn down.)
1894 - Sutro builds the Cliff House. (It will eventually burn down.)
1895 - 1897 - Sutro is elected mayor of San Francisco. He runs on a populist platform, but is largely ineffective and considered a failure. He is not reelected.
1898 - Sutro’s fortune is massive but his legal affairs are in disarray. He dies on August 8th. His heirs fight bitterly over his fortune.
1920’s - The San Francisco copy of Triumph of Light is in disrepair. It’s rumored that a girl fell to her death trying to climb to the top.
1950’s - The statue is largely forgotten, and at some point it disappears, leaving only the stone pedestal.
1957 - Actor Robert Argent plays Sutro in season 5, episode 17 of Death Valley Days "The Man Who Was Never Licked.” He wont act again after.
Today - The Triumph of Light exists in various locations and states. A copy lives at the Musee Wiertz in Brussels. The copy made by Victor De Haen lives in a park in the city of Dinate, Belgium. Echoes of it live on in the Statue of Liberty in New York, and the empty pedestal remains atop Mount Olympus in San Francisco.
1860 - Sutro leaves San Francisco for Virginia City, Nevada, after silver was found in the Comstock Lode with plans to continue selling cigars.
Some point - Sutro comes up with an idea for a tunnel to drain the water from the mines, this idea would become known as the Sutro Tunnel.
1879 - Sutro sells his Comstock Lode shares and returns to San Francisco. He becomes one of its biggest land owners.
Also in 1879 - Sutro purchases Mount Parnassus and begins planting Eucalyptus trees on it. The hill is later renamed Mount Sutro.
1887 - Sutro erects a plaster copy of Wiertz’s statue and places it at the geographic center of San Francisco atop Mount Olympus. It is dedicated on Thanksgiving day.
1892 - Sutro builds the Sutro Baths. (It will eventually burn down.)
1894 - Sutro builds the Cliff House. (It will eventually burn down.)
1895 - 1897 - Sutro is elected mayor of San Francisco. He runs on a populist platform, but is largely ineffective and considered a failure. He is not reelected.
1898 - Sutro’s fortune is massive but his legal affairs are in disarray. He dies on August 8th. His heirs fight bitterly over his fortune.
1920’s - The San Francisco copy of Triumph of Light is in disrepair. It’s rumored that a girl fell to her death trying to climb to the top.
1950’s - The statue is largely forgotten, and at some point it disappears, leaving only the stone pedestal.
1957 - Actor Robert Argent plays Sutro in season 5, episode 17 of Death Valley Days "The Man Who Was Never Licked.” He wont act again after.
Today - The Triumph of Light exists in various locations and states. A copy lives at the Musee Wiertz in Brussels. The copy made by Victor De Haen lives in a park in the city of Dinate, Belgium. Echoes of it live on in the Statue of Liberty in New York, and the empty pedestal remains atop Mount Olympus in San Francisco.