Dido Room

The Dido Room is a gallery space located within the Galleria Borghese in Rome, Italy, specifically situated on the first floor of the Villa Borghese Pinciana. Formerly known as the Room of the Three Graces, it takes its current name from its ceiling paintings, which depict episodes from the story of Aeneas and Dido. The room serves as a significant display space for paintings by masters of the Umbrian and Tuscan Renaissance, featuring works by Perugino, Botticelli, Andrea del Sarto, and Raphael.

The room's current decorative identity was established in the late 18th century when Austrian painter Anton von Maron, who arrived in Rome between 1756 and 1761, was commissioned to create the ceiling canvases. Von Maron, a pupil and assistant of Anton Raphael Mengs, painted the five works depicting the Aeneas and Dido narrative, replacing the room's earlier thematic association with the Three Graces. This renovation occurred as part of the broader 18th-century redecoration of the villa under architect Antonio Asprucci.

The Dido Room is dedicated to paintings by masters of the Umbrian and Tuscan Renaissance. The collection highlights the transition in artistic styles from the late 15th century to the early 16th century. It specifically documents the Tuscan painters' predilection for the tondo format, evidenced by four large panels executed in Florence between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th. Additionally, the room traces the stylistic evolution of Raphael from his early work under Perugino to his integration into the Florentine artistic environment.

The ceiling of the room features five canvases by Anton von Maron, with Dido's Suicide at the center, flanked by Aeneas Fleeing Troy, Dido Receiving Aeneas and Achates, Dido's Banquet, and Mercury Exhorting Aeneas to Leave Carthage. The room's interior is further adorned with a chimneypiece in white marble with amethyst inlays, gilded bronze ornaments, and figured majolica tiles. This chimneypiece is one of six ornamental fireplaces in the building executed from a model by architect Antonio Asprucci. An 18th-century table with polychrome marble inlays depicting Putti and an alabaster cup on a column of verde antico marble also furnish the space.