Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search
Previous Lot
Next Lot
A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid, early to mid 18th century, image 1
A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid, early to mid 18th century, image 2
A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid, early to mid 18th century, image 3
A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid, early to mid 18th century, image 4
A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid, early to mid 18th century, image 5
Lot 79TP

A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid,
early to mid 18th century,

Important Design
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£8,000 - £12,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Home and Interiors specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

A impressive and vibrant Mythical Flemish tapestry showing a scene from the Aeneid,

early to mid 18th century,
woven in rich wools and some golden threads, depicting a scene from Book Four of the Aeneid, the bare breasted Queen Dido, Queen of Carthage, having just fainted is bourne away by her attendants, all in eastern dress and headwear, meanwhile to the right, the father of Rome, Aeneas, turning to take command of his forces, set against a backdrop of verdant landscapes with Carthage in the distance, including abundant details of village figures, tents, soldiers and various natural forms, 338cm x 243cm

Footnotes

Provenance: Property of a Lady

Literary sources:
The story of Aeneas' return to the fleet is rarely depicted as told in the Aeneid Book IV. Virgil describes how Dido faints upon hearing that her lover is leaving Carthage but in the tradition of Western Art, she is typically shown standing or sitting on a throne. Here, the artist has shown her exactly as Virgil described her:

His medium dictis sermonem abrumpit, et auras
aegra fugit, seque ex oculis avertit et aufert,
linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem
dicere. Suscipiunt famulae, conlapsaque membra
marmoreo referunt thalamo stratisque reponunt.
At pius Aeneas, quamquam lenire dolentem
solando cupit et dictis avertere curas,
multa gemens magnoque animum labefactus amore,
iussa tamen divom exsequitur, classemque revisit.

Abruptly, she stopped mid speech, sick at heart she fled,
turning herself away from Aneneas' gaze, as she left, he tried fearfully
to talk and reassure her but in vain.
Her attendants bore her away to her chamber as she fainted
So that she might rest her weary limbs.
But Aeneas, mindful of his duty, however much he wished to turn to her
and console such intense misery with words of comfort,
even though his soul was heavy with love for her,
nothing would persuade him away from the divine task in hand.
And so he resumed command of the fleet.

Literature: T.C Williams, Virgil, The Aeneidl Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, 1910

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A pair of late 19th century French gilt bronze mounted pink griotte marble garniture urns In the Louis XVI style
A large late Victorian oak and brass dinner gongLate 19th / early 20th century, acquired by the Set Decorating Department for the third film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Dame Maggie Smith (as the Dowager Countess): a selection of character props used as set decoration for her desk
Jim Carter (as Mr Carson): a selection of character props used as set decoration in his study
Jim Carter (as Mr Carson): an oak hanging key cabinet together with a large collation of prop keysThe cabinet in the Victorian style, the keys 18th century and later
Dame Maggie Smith (as the Dowager Countess): a white metal mounted ebonised walking cane
The Downton Abbey Bell WallFirst seen in Season 1, in the Servant's Hall, made by the Art Department's model makers
A large Italian carved marble bust of PericlesAfter the Antique, probably late 18th/early 19th century
Two similar Derbyshire blue john fluorspar ovoid door stops Early 20th century
A large French mid-19th century gilt-bronze eight light chandelierIn the Louis XV style
A rare Regency treen Gothic gatehouse timepiece case
An Austrian cold-painted bronze of a French Bulldog, with another similarcirca 1900
An Austrian cold-painted bronze of a French Bulldog singed Carl Kauba, with two similarlate 19th early 20th century
After Emmanuel Frémiet (French, 1824-1910): Chiens Levriers
Jules-Bertrand Gelibert (French, 1834-1916): Druid
After Emmanuel Fremiet (1824-1910): A patinated cast iron seated bloodhound