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Claude Lorrain. Dido and Aeneas at Carthage, 1676

In 1676, Claude finished his last painted harbour scene, Dido and Aeneas at Carthage, which he had begun the previous year – the only such scene he executed after 1650. In the right foreground, in front of a mighty columned portico partially in ruins, stands Dido, queen of Carthage, Aeneas, who has fled from Troy, his son Ascanius (or Julus) and a number of other figures who may be of significance but have not been identified. Dido points to the harbour with its sailing ships and smaller boats, and to a high-domed temple on the left. From there the viewer’s gaze wanders rightward again across the water to the monumental triumphal arch and round crenelated tower, before finally gliding into the spatial depths, to the city and the mountains beyond.

 

Claude Lorrain. Dido and Aeneas at Carthage, 1676. Oil on canvas, 120 x 149.2 cm.
Signed on a stone at bottom centre: AENEAS ET DIDO CLAVDIO I.V.F. [“In Urbe Fecit”] ROMAE 1676 ; and on a cargo bundle borne by a man beneath the triumphal arch: CLAVDIO 1675 ROMA.
© Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

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