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The Dream of Aeneas

1660–65
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 620
Armored and elegant, the legendary founder of Rome, Aeneas, sleeps beside a theatrical, reed-laden personification of the city’s Tiber River. The subject comes from the ancient poet Virgil’s Aeneid, which was popularized in mid-seventeenth-century Rome through commissions by Pope Innocent X, including Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain and frescoes in the papal family’s palace. Rosa may have painted this example specifically for public exhibition. The figures relate to the rough bandit types for which Rosa was famed, but the pared-down composition and their scale lend them a sculptural majesty. The complicated poses, heavy impasto of the armor, and loose brushwork of the river reeds enliven a static subject.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Dream of Aeneas
  • Artist: Salvator Rosa (Italian, Arenella (Naples) 1615–1673 Rome)
  • Date: 1660–65
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 77 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (196.9 x 120.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1965
  • Object Number: 65.118
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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5206. The Dream of Aeneas

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More Artwork

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Dream of Aeneas: Aeneas rests his head on his hands atop his shield, while the river god Tiber leans on a vessel and points upward with his left hand, Salvator Rosa Italian, Etching and drypoint
Dream of Aeneas: Aeneas rests his head on his hands atop his shield, while the river god Tiber leans on a vessel and points upward with his left hand
Salvator Rosa
ca. 1663–64
Three ox skulls, two horse skulls, and a grotesque head, study for "Democritus in Meditation", Salvator Rosa Italian, Etching and drypoint
Three ox skulls, two horse skulls, and a grotesque head, study for "Democritus in Meditation"
Salvator Rosa
1662
Three human skulls, study for "Democritus in Meditation", Salvator Rosa Italian, Etching
Three human skulls, study for "Democritus in Meditation"
Salvator Rosa
1662
Landscape with a figure seated on a rock, Salvator Rosa Italian, Etching
Landscape with a figure seated on a rock
Salvator Rosa
ca. 1640
Two ox skulls and a portion of a third, study for "Democritus in Meditation", Salvator Rosa Italian, Etching
Two ox skulls and a portion of a third, study for "Democritus in Meditation"
Salvator Rosa
1662

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