Two tiny legs disappearing under the water. That is all the 16th Century Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel depicted of poor Icarus. Two tiny legs. Pieter Bruegel was a moralist as well as a paintera moralist who saw human folly in many guises. In his work, "Landscape With The Fall of Icarus," he portrayed that folly through an interpretation of the Greek myth of Icarus. We recall that Icarus escaped King Minos' labyrinth by fashioning wings from wax. However, he flew too close to the sun, melted his wings and crashed into the sea. Bruegel reduced this story into the moment when Icarus splashed into the water. The rest of the painting shows a farmer, a shepherd and a fisherman paying not the slightest bit of attention.

Bruegel's point was that no matter how significant the human accomplishment…