Object Image

Turnus, Overwhelmed by the Trojans, Crosses the River to Return to His Companions (Aeneid, Book IX)

European of the Renaissance period viewed ancient Rome not only as the origin of Italian civilzation but also the geographic center of a lost golden age. This plaque belongs to a series of at least eighty Limoges enamels illustrating events from Virgil’s Aeneid. The Latin epic poem tells the story of the legendary hero Aeneas, who escaped the sack and burning of Troy by the Greeks and, after wandering for some time, settled in Italy, where his descendants founded Rome.

The scenes are not, however, the product of the enameler's imagination; rather, they are close copies of the woodcut illustrations for the edition of the Latin poet’s Opera printed by Johann Grüninger in Strasbourg in 1502. The ...

c. 1530-35
Painted enamel on copper, partly gilt
22.2 x 19.7cm
45.60.5
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection