Aeneas Going to Battle, Gerard de Lairesse, 1667
etching, h 304mm × w 387mm More details
De Lairesse’s subject matter was frequently highly idiosyncratic. This time he chose a rarely portrayed scene in the Aeneid, Vergil’s epic poem about the Trojan Aeneas. The goddess Venus, Aeneas’ mother, enjoins her son from a cloud to wage war against the Greeks. Desperate, his wife Creusa and son Ascanius, try to stop him. To no avail, naturally.
