Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me today.

We're in the unit Myths and Legends.

Today we are going to look at a beautiful painting by Pieter Bruegel.

It was inspired by a Greek myth about the Fall of Icarus.

Bruegel's painting is called "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." We're going to have a close look at this painting and think, well, how was it inspired by the myth? And we're going to consider the myth as well.

What is it teaching us? What is its moral? I cannot wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

I'm going to be your support and guide as we work through today's lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are going to be able to explain how Pieter Bruegel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" was inspired by a Greek myth.

So we're going to look at the Greek myth about Icarus and his father Daedalus.

And then we're going to look at Pieter Bruegel's painting.

I'm going to think, well, what is he trying to say about this Greek myth? There are some key words which are going to be referenced throughout today's lesson, and they're going to help us achieve our objective.

You can see them on the board now, if you'd like to pause the video so you can make a note of them, please do.

I'm going to draw your attention at to two of the words.

So the first one is hubris, which is the second word, and it means excessive pride.

And that's how you pronounce it, hubris.

Excessive pride is what it means.

And the second word is humility, which means being modest, humble, and is the opposite of hubristic.

Now, hubristic, that's it in its adjectival form.

If you describe someone as hubristic, you'll be saying that they have excessive pride or showing excessive pride.

And humility is the opposite of hubris.

So if you'd like to pause the video and have a look at more of the keywords, please do.

But as I say, they're going to be referenced throughout today's lesson, so you're going to have a very good understanding of what they mean by the end.

So our lesson outline for today, we're going to start off by looking at the Fall of Icarus, the plot and its moral.

So the Fall of Icarus, this is our Greek myth, which inspired Pieter Bruegel's painting.

And then in the second learning cycle, we're going to get to look at Pieter Bruegel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." And we're going to think, well, what is he saying about the Greek myth? How is he inspired by the Greek myth? Let's start off with the Fall of Icarus, the plot and its moral.

So two Oak pupils describe a time when they felt inspired.

Laura says, "I felt inspired by my sister when she took up a team sport.

Now I'm in a team too." And Jun says, "I felt inspired after going on a school trip to the National Portrait Gallery.

I wrote a couple of poems about some of the pictures I saw." Now I'd like you to discuss what does it mean to be inspired and describe a time when you have felt inspired, explaining what, why, and how, just like Jun and Laura have.

Pause the video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear those discussions.

I feel inspired by your discussions about when you felt inspired.

So let's take the first question first.

What does it mean to be inspired? What it means to be motivated to do something after maybe seeing someone or something that you think is particularly great.

So if we look at Laura, for example, she who saw her sister, she joined a team, a team sport, and she thought, wow, my sister has done something really good there, and now I'm motivated to join a team myself.

Now, Jun, Jun was also inspired.

He saw some amazing pictures at the National Portrait Gallery, and rather than thinking why I'm going to paint some pictures, he's actually gone for a different art form.

He's decided to write some poetry.

So this word inspiration, which is one of our key words, it's the idea that you are motivated to do something.

And it's often when you see someone or something that you think is particularly great or interesting, it kind of sparks your creativity and your motivation.

And describe a time when you felt inspired explaining what, why, and how.

So many different people have been struck by inspiration during their life.

And I would always encourage you if you feel inspired to do something, whether that might be joining a team like Laura or writing like Jun, really lean into that feeling because it's such a powerful feeling, the feeling of being inspired, of being motivated to do something.

Now today we're going to look at a painting which was inspired by a Greek myth.

So Greek myths are stories originally told by the ancient Greeks as a way of explaining how the world began and what the world is like.

So myth one of our key words, and here we've got its definition.

So Greek myths are stories originally told by the ancient Greeks as a way of explaining how the world began and what the world is like.

Now, the stories that narrate the lives of Greek gods here is mythological creatures and mortals, which means humans.

I'd like you to discuss why might Greek myths be inspiring to artists? Do you know of any Greek myths, gods, heroes, or mythological creatures? Pause video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear everyone using those keywords already myth and inspired, aware with such ease.

So lots of people saying, well, I think Greek myths might be inspiring to artists because the stories are of the Greek gods and goddesses and those kind of supernatural creatures are always really appealing to artists because you can draw and paint or sculpt or however you wish to depict them in a really, really creative way.

And others saying, well, I know some stories of some Greek heroes, some Greek gods, goddesses, mythological creatures and humans.

And they don't always behave in particularly good ways.

Sometimes they exhibit some quite bad behaviour.

And maybe that is inspiring because it's about looking at humanity, at humans, and seeing us in all our flaws, sometimes being very powerful, but sometimes also being very powerless.

So the stories are just engaging stories because we want to find out what happens to each Greek god, hero, mythological creature, and their interactions with humans.

Others saying, oh, I actually haven't heard of many Greek myths, but there are mythologies in other cultures that I have heard of and always really myths are not unique to Greece.

There are mythologies in lots and lots of other cultures as well.

And they are equally inspiring to artists because of these engaging tales of gods, heroes, mythological creatures.

And also just thinking, well, how did the world begin? What is the world like? Can we explain that through storytelling that has always been pretty inspiring to people.

Now here is the story of the myth, the Greek myth, the Fall of Icarus.

So Icarus and his father Daedalus have been imprisoned by King Minos on the island of Crete.

So this is one of the Greek islands.

Daedalus, an inventor constructs wings made of wax and bird feathers so they can escape.

Daedalus warns his son not to fly too close to the sun or the wax will melt.

Icarus, excited by the feeling of flying, flies higher and higher.

The sun melts the wax and Icarus falls into the sea and drowns.

Now, Jun considers the myth and says, "Maybe the painting we will look at was inspired by the father and son being imprisoned.

I can imagine painting showing their fear and sadness." So we know that Pieter Bruegel painted a picture inspired by this myth.

We're thinking, well, what aspect of the myth might have inspired him? So I'd like you to discuss what part of the myth do you think the painting will be inspired by and why Jun thinks it will be the father and son being imprisoned.

Do you think there's another aspect of the painting that might be inspiring to Pieter Bruegel, our painter? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, really good knowledge of this myth already and thinking, well, which bit might be inspiring to painters? Some saying, I think the painter will focus on Daedalus, the inventor, making these wings that is a real craft, showing some real ingenuity, some real intelligence and real innovation.

And maybe we'll see him in depicted in this painting, making those wings, and others saying no, the real climax of this story is Icarus plunging into the sea.

And so we will see at that moment in this painting, the moment of tragedy for the father when he sees his son who has flown higher and higher just as he warned him not to do.

So, a range of different things that might have inspired Pieter Bruegel when he painted "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." Now let's develop the myth to consider its moral.

Moral, it's one of our key words.

We know that it means a lesson often taught through a story about how to behave.

It shows the difference between right and wrong.

Now, not all the Greek myths have morals, but this one does the myth of Icarus and Daedalus.

So let's consider its moral.

So Icarus and his father, Daedalus have been imprisoned by King Minos on the island of Crete.

Now Daedalus is imprisoned for helping a man called Theseus escape from King Minos' labyrinth maze.

King Minos has this amazing labyrinth, this maze very, very complicated.

And King Minos is angry because he thinks that Daedalus helped Theseus escape from this labyrinth, which apparently nobody can escape from.

Now we know Daedalus is an inventor.

He constructs wings made of wax and bird's feathers so they can escape.

This is not his only invention.

Daedalus is a renowned inventor, which means he's very famous.

Indeed he helped create King Minos' labyrinth.

So he's not just good at making the feathers.

He's also got, sorry, the wings out of the feathers.

He's also got these other inventions to his name.

One of them is the labyrinth, King Minos' labyrinth.

Now Daedalus is also renowned for his hubris, so his excessive pride and jealousy.

For example, he tried to kill his nephew, another skilled inventor, and this is actually why Daedalus is on the island of Crete.

He's from Athens, but he had to leave Athens because of this attempted murder on his nephew.

And the reason he wanted to kill his nephew is because his nephew is also a skilled inventor.

So this is an example of Daedalus's hubris, his excessive pride.

Now Daedalus, we know warns his son not to fly too close to the sun or the wax will melt.

But Daedalus has some other advice for his son as well.

He tells his son not to fly too close to the sea, it will dampen the wings.

Icarus must fly halfway between the sun and the sea in order to escape the prison and in order to make sure that his wings do not collapse from the dampness from the sea or the heat from the sun.

Now Icarus, we know, gets excited by feeling, by the feeling of flying.

He flies higher and higher.

And in the myth we are told that Icarus feels like a god as he flies and soars higher and higher.

So he has this feeling of hubris.

He feels proud of the fact that he is flying high in the sky a bit like a god.

And the sun melts at the wax.

And we know that Icarus falls into the sea and drowns.

Now, Daedalus, his father swears he will never fly again, offering his wings to the god, Apollo.

So Jun considers the moral of the myth.

We've got a bit more detail about this myth now, and Jun says, "The moral is about hubris and humility." Now I really like how Jun's using those key words, but I'd like you to discuss how could you develop Jun's idea just to show off your understanding of this word hubris and humility and how they apply to this particular Greek myth.

So pause the video and discuss how could you develop Jun's idea that the moral of this myth is about hubris and humility.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, fantastic to see you develop Jun's idea and show of your brilliant knowledge of these keywords, moral, hubris and humility.

So the idea of hubris is developed not just through Daedalus who's very hubristic about his inventions, and this leads him to Crete with his son, but also it is developed through the idea of Icarus who is flying too close to the sun, feeling like a god, feeling that he's invincible, and then of course plunging into the sea.

But there are also ideas about humility here, and that is shown particularly with Daedalus at the end of the story when he offers up his wings to the god Apollo.

And he's very humble because he's seen that his invention and his hubris and his son's hubris have led to this tragedy.

So really nice development there of Jun's ideas.

Now I'd like you to return to your earlier discussion.

Do you have any further ideas about what the painting inspired by this myth might focus on? So you might maintain your idea and say, I still want to, I still think the painting will be inspired by Daedalus crafting wings, for example.

But having a little bit more of an idea about this myth, can you think what else might this myth, might this painting focus on? I'd just like to remind you that it's called, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." That might give you a few pointers as to what this painting might focus on.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear you refining your discussion.

Now, a few people did take on that hint that I gave about the painting being called "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." So some people latching onto that idea of landscape thinking it will be quite a big picture.

So maybe we will see the sea and the sky.

Maybe we'll actually see the escape attempt.

But if it's got that phrase Fall of Icarus, maybe the focus will be Icarus plunging into the sea.

Others saying, well, because we've got this landscape, maybe we'll see lots of different bits of the myth because the myth is a story.

Maybe we'll see the different phases of Daedalus and Icarus from the very beginning when they are imprisoned to the very end when Daedalus is offering up his wings to the god Apollo.

Really lovely discussion there, thinking what might inspire this painting.

What are we going to see in this painting? Now a check for understanding before we start to think about the ideas of hubris and humility in relation to the Greek myth.

And really show off our knowledge, not just of the story, but of the moral of the story.

So what is the moral of the Greek myth, the Fall of Icarus? Is it A, be a moral inventor, B, fly low to the ground, C, be humility, or D, hubris is dangerous.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected D, hubris is dangerous.

So it's not about being a moral inventor.

We do know that Daedalus was hubristic when he was an inventor.

It's not about the morality of inventions, but instead thinking about your morals in terms of your hubris and your humility.

Fly low to the ground is not a moral, it's not a lesson that everyone can learn because of course, mortals, humans cannot fly.

B, humility, this is the wrong version, wrong use of this word humility.

You must have humility or you must be humble.

So D is the correct response.

Hubris is dangerous.

So using the sentence starters to guide you, I'd like you to answer this question.

Who shows more hubris, Daedalus or Icarus? Of course there is no right answer here it is your interpretation of the Greek myth.

Now I've got some sentence starters to structure your paragraph.

Arguably, more specifically, and ultimately, and I've also got some prompts for each sentence starter.

So you're going to start off by explaining very clearly who you think shows more hubris.

More specifically, you'll then focus on a plot point or plot points in the story to prove this.

And ultimately I'd like you to explain how the character is punished for their hubris.

So pause the video, get your pen, your paper, your laptop, whatever it is that you are writing on.

And have a think.

Who do you think shows more hubris in this story? Is it Daedalus or Icarus? Use the sentence starters and prompts to support you.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back, really interesting to see who people think shows more hubris and the different plot points that you selected to prove this.

Let's do some self-assessment to make sure these paragraphs are incredibly strong argument.

So I'd like you to self-assess your answer using the questions to guide you.

So let's start off with arguably, your first sentence starter.

Did you select one character and use the word hubris in your topic sentence? When you move on to more specifically, the next bit of your paragraph, I'm going to ask you, did you select a specific plot point to prove your idea? And then ultimately your final sentence starter, did you explain what happens to this character at the end of the myth? So pause the video and using these three questions, make sure that you've got a really well-structured paragraph which argues who you think shows more hubris in the myth, Daedalus or Icarus.

Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back, well done for completing that self-assessment and making sure you've got a very, very well argued, tightly argued paragraph about who you think shows more hubris.

Not only have you evaluated the myth, you've shown off your fantastic knowledge of the myth itself.

Let's move on to our second learning cycle.

So our second learning cycle, we are now going to look at Bruegel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." We're going to see if all of our predictions from learning cycle one were correct.

And we're going to really examine this picture and think, well, how was Bruegel inspired by the myth? So I'd like you to look carefully at "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." It was painted by Pieter Bruegel in about 1558, and I'd like you to discuss these questions.

What can you see in the picture? Are you surprised by how Icarus is presented in the picture? Why or why not? Now I really want you to spend as long as you need looking at this picture.

It's very beautiful.

There's a lot going on, some surprising things going on.

So spend as long as you need looking at this picture so that you can discuss these questions.

Pause the video and complete the discussion questions now.

Welcome back, well done for really spending some time examining that picture, looking from left to right, up and down, asking other people what they have noticed or just giving yourself some time to make sure that you see every single aspect of this beautiful landscape painted by Bruegel.

So let's take this first question.

What can you see in the picture? Well, first of all, we've got a kind of landscape, a scene, and the sea seems to be the largest object, the largest natural feature in this scene.

But we've also got some farmers.

We've got a shepherd just on the edge right near to the sea.

And then we've got this ploughman, the kind of largest figure in the scene.

He is ploughing his field, so he's using an instrument, a piece of machinery, a piece of farming equipment in order to sow seeds in his field.

It's being pulled along by a horse.

We've got some ships in the sea, we've got the coastline, we've got the sun.

And in the bottom right corner we've got two little legs poking out of the sea.

And lots of people notice this and said, ah, this must be Icarus.

Now I have to say, the first time I looked at this picture, I couldn't find Icarus for a very long time.

So if you did not notice him, do not worry.

He's a tiny, tiny feature of this painting.

Now, some people said, I am completely surprised by the way that he's presented here.

I thought this painting was inspired by the Greek myth.

While there's only this tiny, tiny little nod to Icarus, these two little legs, we don't see any other part of the myth.

If you didn't know the myth, you would have no real information about it and others saying no, I can see how this is inspired by the Greek myth, because Icarus was known for being very, very hubristic.

And actually what Bruegel has done, what he's cleverly done, is not really given him any space in the painting, maybe as a punishment for his hubris.

So there might be lots of other things that you noticed in the picture.

It's beautiful.

There's lots going on as I say.

But the things that we've really drawn attention to here, the dominance of the sea and the ploughman, we've got the ships there, the coastline, other agricultural figures, which means people who farm the land.

And then this tiny little moment where we see Icarus's legs poking out of the sea.

Now Laura and Jun discuss the painting and Laura says, "The humbler figures like the farmer and the shepherd are more important than Icarus." And Jun says, "Bruegel was clearly inspired by the moral of the myth." Now I'd like you to discuss what might have led them to these ideas.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, lovely to see you tying together all our key words from the beginning of this lesson to start to interpret this painting.

Let's start off with Laura, who says the humbler figures, so the figures who are more modest, who are not filled with excessive pride, like the farmer, and the shepherd are more important than Icarus.

And absolutely, I agree with you that Laura has got to this interpretation because they're much larger figures in the painting.

So they seem to be more important because they're larger.

Our attention is drawn to them, particularly the ploughman, the man who's ploughing the field because he's such a large central focus in the painting.

Now, Jun says Bruegel was clearly inspired by the moral of the myth, and we started discussing this when we were looking at the painting earlier, the idea that because he hasn't given any time, because Bruegel hasn't really given any time or space to Icarus, what we are seeing there is a celebration of the humble figures, a celebration of humility and a kind of punishment for hubris.

He doesn't really get any space in the picture at all.

So the celebration of the humbler figures like the farmer and the shepherd, they're more important than Icarus.

And this is a sort of punishment for Icarus' hubristic moments when he was flying very close to the sun.

Lovely interpretation here of this picture.

Now a check for understanding before we start to apply our knowledge of this picture in a creative way later in our practise task.

So true or false, Bruegel included Icarus as an afterthought, that's why he's such a small presence in the picture.

Is this true or false? Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false, now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it A, Bruegel purposefully made Icarus small to show his morality? Or B, Bruegel purposefully made Icarus small to celebrate the humility of the other figures in the scene? Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected B.

So this is quite a tricky check for understanding because you could argue, oh, Bruegel, he must have included Icarus as an afterthought.

But actually no, that is not what Bruegel was doing.

He knew he wanted to paint a painting inspired by the Greek myth, but what he was inspired by was the moral, the idea that humility is something that we should celebrate.

So the humble figures of the shepherd and of the farmer are really celebrated because they're given the most space in the painting.

And hubris is something that we should avoid.

And he shows that by showing Icarus being very, very small part of this landscape.

So Laura and Jun imagine that they can interview Pieter Bruegel.

And these are the questions that they come up with.

What inspired you to paint "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus?" Why did you choose to focus on the landscape rather than Icarus himself? What do you hope people think, feel, or reflect on after seeing your paintings? So some great interview questions there.

Now I'd like you to imagine that you are Pieter Bruegel.

So you are being interviewed by Jun and Laura with these questions.

Answer each question in full sentences and I'd like you to make close reference to the myth and the painting in your answers.

So pause the video, get your pen, your paper, start to inhabit the character of Pieter Bruegel, starting to think, well, what was he thinking just before he started to create, develop and paint this picture.

And you're going to tie all your knowledge from across the lesson together to come up with a really imaginative response, which is also based in some of the facts that we know about this picture and the Greek myth.

So pause the video and complete this task now.

Imagine you're Pieter Bruegel answer each question in full sentences.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back, it was lovely to see you inhabit the character of Pieter Bruegel and start to apply your knowledge of his painting and the Greek myth, including its moral to your answers.

Let's do some self-assessment.

So here is Laura's answer to question one.

What inspired you to paint "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus?" And she wrote, "I was inspired by the moral of the Greek myth.

Remember, she's pretending that she's Pieter Bruegel.

So that I, is Pieter Bruegel.

I wanted to celebrate the idea of humility by making the humble characters more important and Icarus less important.

I think I show how important and beautiful they are to the world.

Icarus is famous, but for the wrong reasons rather than present hubris, I focus on the positive idea of humility." It's a great response inhabiting the character of Pieter Bruegel.

We've got someone who's really focused on the question.

So the question was, what inspired you to paint "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus?" And we can see I was inspired by, I wanted to, I think I show, I focus on, and then we've got those key words there.

Inspired, moral, myth, humility, it's other form, humble, hubris, and then humility again at the end.

So I'd like you to identify where you've met this checklist in your own answers for question one, two, and three.

Where have you shown you're really focused on the question? And if you've got those key words from our lesson today? Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back, lovely to see people noting where they were really focused on the question.

And a few people adding in some of those keywords which maybe they had not included earlier.

Saw some people adding the word moral and then this idea of hubris, balanced with humility, and how does Bruegel explore that in the painting? In summary, Greek myths are stories originally told by the ancient Greeks as a way of explaining the origins and nature of the world.

Sometimes Greek myths contain morals.

The moral of the Fall of Icarus is that hubris is dangerous.

Pieter Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," circa 1558, that means painted around then, was inspired by the Greek myth.

Bruegel's painting celebrates the humility of labourers by making them the focus of the painting.

So the farmer and the shepherd and the other agricultural figures in the painting, they are labourers working the land.

It has been such a pleasure to explore this painting with you today and I look forward to seeing you next time.