Dido, who has seen Aeneas' men preparing for the voyage, confronts him in sorrow and anguish. Aeneas points rather sheepishly to the ships and explains his divine mission: he leaves not according to his own free will, but at the command of Jupiter, to found the kingdom of Italy. The grisaille relief of Cupid presenting a vase to a woman (in the background) is a cold echo of the magic banquet scene and the gifts that first impassioned Dido.
Details
- Artist Name: Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (Italian, 1612-1662)
- Title: Dido Accosts the Departing Aeneas
- Date: c. 1646
- Medium: Gouache and black chalk on paper, laid down on canvas
- Dimensions: 109-5/8 x 138-1/2 in. (278.4 x 351.8 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1969.33.1.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Rt. Hon. the Earl of Poulett, Hinton St. George, Somerset, by at least 1828 (Sotheby's, London, 26 March 1969, lot 6).
[Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London].
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Once Upon a Tapestry: Woven Tales of Helen and Dido
- Norton Simon Museum, 2018-12-07 to 2019-05-27
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- Bean, Jacob, 17th Century Italian Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979, p. 243
- Geymonat, M., ENEIDE: con episodi significativi di Iliade e Odissea, 1987, p. 386
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 39
- Kerber, B., Geissener Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte, 1997, p. 73, n. 34
- Oy-Marra, Elizabeth, The Diplomacy of Art: Artistic Creation and Politics in Seicento Italy, 2000, pp. 183-185, ill fig. 4-5
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 682 p. 327
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