Daedalus and Icarus
This statue is a maquette or preparatory model for the final bronze sculpture which is on display in Bristol Museum.
It is based on the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus is shown tying artificial wings to his son, Icarus, to help them flee from the Labyrinth. Daedalus managed to escape, but Icarus flew too close to the sun. The wax on his wings melted and he plummeted to his death.
Wood studied in Switzerland and Germany, returning to England in 1889 and attended the National Art Training School under Edouard Lanteri and worked as an assistant to Alphonse Legros at the Slade School. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1894. He taught at Glasgow School of Art from 1897 to 1901 after which he settled in London. In the First World War, he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1915 where he was in charge of the department of masks for facial wounds. Instead of the rubber masks used conventionally, Wood constructed masks of thin metal, sculpted to match the portraits of the men. From 1918 to 1923 Wood was Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
