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Preview image of work. pen and brown ink on paper,  The Death of Dido 4588
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1958.67

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The Death of Dido

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Artist

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen, 6/28/1577 - 5/30/1640, Antwerp, Flanders)

Title

The Death of Dido

Creation Date

1600-1603

Century

17th century

Dimensions

3 3/4 in. x 4 1/2 in. (9.53 cm. x 11.5 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

Europe, Flanders, Flanders

Medium and Support

pen and brown ink on paper

Credit Line

Bequest of Helen Johnson Chase (Mrs. Stanley P.)

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1958.67

According to Virgil’s “Aeneid,” Dido, Queen of Carthage, is distraught when her lover Aeneas departs. To the shock of all, she mounts a pyre assembled from Aeneas’s belongings and falls on a sword. In this sketch and a related sheet at the Louvre, Rubens develops varying poses of the figure with outstretched arms, flowing drapery, and pained expression. This sheet is a rare “first idea” sketch Rubens drew early in his Italian years, when he was in the service of the Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua. At the time, these initial explorations--“crabbelingen”, or scribbles, in Flemish--were still considered too rough to share and save, and would often be abandoned after the artist had polished his initial spark of an idea into a more carefully rendered design. A small number of paintings related to the “Aeneid” survive, suggesting that Rubens may have worked on an entire Aeneas cycle.

Additional Media

Additional Image verso
verso


Keywords: mythological   figures (representations)   work on paper   master drawing   Greek   suicide   falling   image of Carthage   woman   The Aeneid   ruler   sketch   preparatory study   image of sword   pyre (funereal)   image of North Africa   queen   royalty   related to poetry   Latin epic   Academic use (Classics)   Academic use (English)   figure study   figurative   vignette   related to Virgil   narrative   death   dramatic