Icarus above the rotunda

Look up towards the centre of the ceiling. The painted subject is the fall of Icarus, the young flyer of classical myth whose flight ends in disaster. Merry-Joseph Blondel, a French painter of the nineteenth century, completed this decoration in 1819. A falling figure has a particular effect when you see it overhead. Your own position in the room becomes part of the experience: the story occupies a space above you, and your eyes have to travel upwards to meet it. Give yourself time to take in the painting as part of the architecture around it. This is the Apollo rotunda, the entrance setting associated with the neighbouring gallery. There is more to notice at your own level, too. Compare the grainy grey granite of the tall column with the white marble and carved drapery of the sculpture. Different materials and periods share the same setting. The ceiling adds another layer, showing how later artists helped shape the rooms in which older works are encountered.