1750
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Aeneas before Dido in the Temple of Juno is a 1750 by James Thornhill, depicting Aeneas, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
James Thornhill drew Aeneas before Dido in the Temple of Juno. It’s an early 18th-century pen-and-ink sketch with wash. The scene comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, showing Dido falling for Aeneas. The drawing was a first draft for a staircase wall at Canons, a house that no longer exists. Shadows get extra ink to set the mood. Check out Thornhill’s other designs at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A pen and ink drawing with wash by James Thornhill, this study depicts Aeneas before Dido in the Temple of Juno, possibly created as a preliminary design for the staircase wall decoration at Canons, Middlesex. The scene illustrates a moment from Book I of Virgil’s Aeneid, where Dido’s growing affection for Aeneas is set within the temple. The work was purchased in 1949 from J & D Colnaghi and is traditionally linked to the now-destroyed Canons estate, constructed for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. Another related oil sketch in the Victoria and Albert Museum suggests Thornhill explored…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sir James Thornhill was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition.
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