As in the myth of Icarus, the transformation in states-of-matter is an integral element to the lost-wax bronze casting process. In this process, solid bronze is melted and poured, as a liquid, through a mold that contains a form of hollow wax; the molten bronze melts, and replaces, the wax form and leaves behind a cast-bronze form. Unlike Icarus’ wax wings, however, this transformation is quite purposeful. Sir Michael Edwards writes that, “the myth of Icarus tells of a young man who wished, not only to fly literally (his father Daedalus achieved that, and survived), but to fly too high, so that the wax holding his wings—a detail surely of interest to a sculptor so expertly aware of the waxing process and of the qualities of the waxes available—melted in the sun.” Greg Wyatt’s bronze Icarus (1977-1979), permanently placed at Chiesa di Santa Maria Le Veterana, Bittetto, Italy, depicts an idealized male torso whose wings remain intact: Icarus before his fall. The wings in this work were once wax, and after melting, are now immortalized in solid bronze. Their transformation to liquid form do not end in the mythical fall from grace, but in the transcendence of a new material. Icarus is a sculptural reinterpretation of the myth in material, form and subject.