1595
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Aeneas and His Family Fleeing Troy is a 1595 by Agostino Carracci, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a man carrying an old man on his back while a child clutches his hand—all rushing through dark, smoky ruins. This is Aeneas escaping Troy after the Greeks burned it. The small statues in the old man’s arms are household gods, showing they’re saving more than just their lives. The swirling smoke and tense faces make the scene feel urgent, like it’s happening right now. If you like this mix of action and emotion, look up chiaroscuro—it’s how artists use light and shadow to make drama.
Created at the end of the 1500s, this print stylistically marks the end of Renaissance art. Barocci’s swirling, emotional composition and the intensity of Agostino’s engraved network of lines prefigure the rise of Baroque art in the 1600s. However, ancient legends such as the Trojan War, revived and popularized during the Renaissance, continued to inspire artists for centuries to come. Here, Aeneas carries his elderly father Anchises, who in turn rescues small statues of their household gods while the city of Troy burns. Both acts stress the men’s virtuous dedication to home and family.…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Agostino Carracci ( kə-RAH-chee, UK also kə-RATCH-ee, Italian: ; also Caracci; 16 August 1557 – 22 March 1602) was an Italian painter, printmaker, tapestry designer, and art teacher.
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