Introduction
The Aeneas Frieze by Dosso Dossi (1468-1542) originally adorned the upper band of the walls in the Camerino d’Alabastro of Alfonso I d’Este (1476-1534), a celebrated place of the European Renaissance that was completed over a decade starting in 1513. It housed the famous Bacchanals by Bellini, Titian and Dosso himself, following the scheme devised by the Campania-born humanist Mario Equicola. For the entire decoration of the Camerino, Equicola conceived “sei fabulae o vero hystorie” (six fables i.e. histories) for the duke’s “pictura di una camera” (painting of a room). In this sphere of complex meanings and iconographic connections, the story of Aeneas, understood in a neo-Platonic sense as “a journey of errors but also of growth”, as Alessandro Ballarin defined it, interpreted the patron’s events in a political sense.
In 1598, after Ferrara devolved to the Papal States, the Camerino was stripped of its masterpieces by the cardinals of the papal court, referred to by contemporaries as “Roman harpies”, and thereby stripped of the main body of decorations. These included Giovanni Bellini’s The Feast of the Gods (National Gallery of Art, Washington); Titian’s The Andrians and The Worship of Venus (Madrid, Prado Museum); Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (London, National Gallery), as well as a fifth canvas that some critics have recently identified as a Triumph of Bacchus (now in Mumbai), attributed to Dosso Dossi himself.
Unlike the Bacchanals, which Cardinal Aldobrandini took for his collection, the ten canvases of the Aeneas Frieze remained in situ until 1608, when they became part of the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577-1633), nephew of Pope Paul V “entrato in humore di belle pitture” (in the mood for beautiful paintings), together with many other paintings by artists from Ferrara and Dosso Dossi himself, including the Melissa, Apollo and Daphne and Saints Cosmas and Damian, exhibited on the occasion of the exhibition in this same room.
The figure of Aeneas, the pious and virtuous Virgilian hero, whose landing in Lazio was believed to be at the origin of the foundation of Rome, the future seat of the universal empire of the Roman Church, was also of special importance in the context of the Borghese pontificate, to the extent that he was represented in two masterpieces in the gallery: Federico Barocci’s large painting Aeneas Fleeing from Troy and in Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculptural group commissioned by the cardinal himself. But the presence of the landscapes that Dosso uses to set Virgil’s poem suggests other references to the Borghese collection, such as the four tondi by Francesco Albani with the stories of Venus and Diana, below which some canvases of the Frieze were displayed in the Borghese palace in Ripetta, when the epic subject was forgotten in the inventories at the end of the 17th century: a suggestion that the exhibition allows us to recall.
Documented until the end of the 18th century in Casa Borghese, the series reappeared again as a complete set in 1856 in Madrid in the catalogue of the personal collection of the Prado director José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781-1859), only to be subsequently dispersed throughout various collections. Today only seven of the ten canvases are known.
Dosso depicted episodes from Books I, III, V and VI of the Aeneid without a strict chronological relationship, concentrating several events into one painting: from the shipwreck on the Libyan coast to the prophetic landing in Sicily, from the games in memory of the deceased Anchises to the journey to the Underworld.
Dosso stays true to the story in his narration of the exploits in Virgil’s tale, but he populates the scenes with a myriad of lively figures, at times small and quickly rendered, bizarre and very human, dressed in flamboyant 16th-century garments, immersed in fantastic landscapes where the buildings blend with the colours of the sky and the horizon, surrounded by lush vegetation. With his whimsical and unmistakable style, Dosso shows his skill in transforming mythology into a “fable full of colour”.
The exhibition is an opportunity to admire most of the Frieze: the canvases, from the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Prado and a private collection, are reunited for this event only and exhibited together for the first time.
Dosso Dossi
(Giovanni di Nicolò Luteri, Tramuschio ?, c. 1487 – Ferrara, 1542)
The Cretan Plague
c. 1520-1521 – Oil on canvas
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, inv. LAD 2021.004.001
“[…] from some infected region of the sky,
came a wretched plague,
corrupting bodies, trees,
and crops, and a season of death.
They relinquished sweet life,
or dragged their sick limbs around […]”
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book III, 137-141
The painting depicts the dramatic episode of book III of the Aeneid in which a terrible plague hits the Trojans, who have just landed in Crete, decimating men and animals. Much of the canvas is dominated by the effects of the disease on the population, who arrived on the Greek island following the erroneous indication of Anchises who described it as the place for the creation of a new Troy. On the left, only partially visible due to the folding of the canvas on the stretcher, another moment from book III, in which Aeneas – recognizable by his plumed helmet
– and his father Anchises meet King Anius, priest of Apollo. Still difficult to interpret, however, is the scene in the background on the right, populated by a myriad of small figures which, perhaps, alludes to a moment of ephemeral serenity experienced by the Trojans in Crete.
Dosso Dossi
(Giovanni di Nicolò Luteri, Tramuschio ?, c. 1487 – Ferrara, 1542)
Arrival of the Trojans at the Strophades Islands and Attack by the Harpies
c. 1518-1519 – Oil on canvas
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. 3011
But suddenly the Harpies arrive, in a fearsome swoop
from the hills, flapping their wings with a huge noise,
snatching at the food, and fouling everything with their
filthy touch; then there’s a deadly shriek
amongst the foul stench.”
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book III, 226-229
The canvas consists of two distinct episodes, both taken from book III. In the left half, we see the banquet that the Trojans prepare as soon as they arrive on the Strofades islands. Here the Harpies, monsters with wings and female heads, attack them soiling the banquet because the trojans were guilty of killing the sacred cattle of the island. The Trojan counterattack, led by Aeneas on horseback and by the trumpeter Miseno, is answered by Celano, the cruelest of the harpies, painted on the far left on the cliff while prophesying misfortunes for the
refugees. On the right, in the foreground, another scene: the group intent on having refreshments in the shade of a grove probably refers to the meeting between Aeneas, Anchises, Andromache, Hector’s widow, her new husband Helenus who will guide Aeneas towards Italy
Dosso Dossi
(Giovanni di Nicolò Luteri, Tramuschio ?, c. 1487 – Ferrara, 1542)
Sicilian Games in Memory of Anchises and Foundation of a City in Sicily
c. 1518-1519 – Oil on canvas
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, inv. LAD 2021.004.002
“Then they perform other figures and counter-figures
in opposing ranks, and weave in circles inside counter-circles,
and perform a simulated battle with weapons.”
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book V, 583-585
The canvas is considered as one of the most complex to interpret due to the different episodes that are depicted on it. The crowd assembled on the left is watching the games held to commemorate Anchises, Aeneas’ father: there is certainly the archery contest, recognizable by the men in the center of the painting, the other disciplines are more uncertain: perhaps the boxing and equestrian carousels or horse racing and ship racing. In the background rises the smoke from the ships pyres set by the Trojan women, deceived by Iris and Juno, probably represented on the cloud in the sky, with a glow that recalls the Raphaelesque Madonna of Foligno. On the far right, Aeneas is painted in the
act of tracing the perimeter of a new city, Acèsta, for all those who will decide to stop in Sicily
Dosso Dossi
(Giovanni di Nicolò Luteri, Tramuschio ?, c. 1487 – Ferrara, 1542)
The Repair of the Trojan Ships;
the Building of the Temple to Venus at Eryx and the Offerings at Anchises’s Grave
c. 1518-1519 – Oil on canvas
Washington, DC National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection, inv. 1939.1.250, inv. 2021.6.1
“They themselves, thinned in their numbers, but with manhood
fully alive to war, renewed the rowing benches, and replaced
the timbers of the ships burnt by fire, and fitted oars and rigging
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book V, 752-754
“Then a shrine of Venus of Idalia was dedicated,
close to the stars, on the tip of Eryx, and they added
a stretch of sacred grove, and a priest, to Anchises’s tomb”
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book V, 759-761
The canvas, cut in the 20th century, was reassembled for the exhibition, and tells stories from the book V. On the left side you can see figures intent on repairing the ships following the fire caused by the Trojan women – as appears in the Abu Dhabi painting. In the foreground, two men dressed in Renaissance clothing – probably identifiable as King Aceste and Aeneas – watch the scene thoughtfully.
In the right half, the Trojan people have already landed in Sicily. A myriad of small characters flock to the tomb of Anchises to bring offerings
and make sacrifices, while a temple dedicated to Venus is under construction above, in which part the scaffolding can still be seen
Dosso Dossi
(Giovanni di Nicolò Luteri, Tramuschio ?, c. 1487 – Ferrara, 1542)
Journey to the Underworld
c. 1518-1519 – Oil on canvas
Rome, Private Collection
“Groans came from there, and the cruel sound of the lash,
then the clank of iron, and dragging chains.”
Virgil, Aeneid,
Book VI, 557-558
The journey of Aeneas, in book VI, leads him to pass through the kingdoms of the Underworld, guided by the Sybil. The canvas, on display for the first time and discovered in 2014, is totally dedicated to the sinners of Tartarus. Aeneas and the Sibyl are not present, because Tartarus is only described to Aeneas, he will never really set foot in the deepest part of Hades. Here, monstrous executioners oppress the souls, among which Tizio can be recognized on the left, lying with the eagle devouring his liver. At the opposite end there is Charon intent on ferrying souls to the Acheron. In this painting, more than in the others, Dosso gives free rein to his whimsical imagination, creating
scenes that refer to the imaginative painting of the dutchman Hieronymus Bosch. Following this vision, Aeneas will reach the Elysian Fields where he will be able to see his father Anchises again