Lot 31: Christian van Couwenbergh , Delft 1604-1667 Cologne The Departure of Aeneas from Dido, Queen of Carthage oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 62 3/4 by 70 5/8 in.; 159.4 by 179.4 cm.

A. Blankert, Dutch Classicism in seventeenth-century painting, exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam/Frankfurt 1999, reproduced p. 159, figure 24b (called "A Warrior Kneeling before a Woman on a Throne", as by Attributed to Christian van Couwenbergh).

Anonymous sale, London, Bonham's, December 10, 2002, lot 181.

The present painting depicts a scene from Virgil's Aeneid. After wandering the Mediterranean, Aeneas and his band come ashore in North Africa, near the city of Carthage. The ruler and founder of the city is the powerful and beautiful Queen Dido, with whom Aeneas has an extended love affair. Eventually the other gods become afraid that his love for Dido is distracting him from his destiny, and they send Mercury to tell Aeneas to be on his way. Forced to choose between love and duty, Aeneas chooses duty, and he is here depicted kneeling before Dido, bidding her goodbye. Van Couwenbergh was one of the leading Delft history painters during the first half of the seventeenth century, and his style was influenced by both the Haarlem and Utrecht history painters, as well as the Northern caravaggesque school.