The Hermitage has sent on tour a collection of works done for the Imperial Russian court by women artists. (Seattleites, it's at the Frye Museum.)
One of Angelica Kauffman's dramatic paintings is of "Virgil Reading Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia"; Octavia has swooned, everyone around her is throwing up their hands or glaring at Vergil, Vergil looks like a puppy who ate the flowers. One line on his scroll is legible: "Tu Marcellus eris".
Virgil's political subtext is known. Marcellus, Octavia's son, had been assassinated; he is compared in the poem to an earlier heroic Marcellus (who died in battle). Dryden's translation, next to the original:
The Trojan honor, and the Roman boast,
Admir'd when living, and ador'd when lost!
Mirror of ancient faith in early youth!
Undaunted worth, inviolable truth!
No foe, unpunish'd, in the fighting field
Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield;
Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force,
When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse.
Ah! couldst thou break thro' fate's severe decree,
A new Marcellus shall arise in thee!
Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring,
Mix'd with the purple roses of the spring;
Let me with fun'ral flow'rs his body strow;
This gift which parents to their children owe,
This unavailing gift, at least, I may bestow!"
Ingres also painted the scene - maybe more than once?. So; political assassinations still relevant for these painter's patrons, or is the drama generally catchy enough?
Several of her paintings were scenes from A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, which I had maybe heard of but haven't read. I certainly recognize a line from the Prologue:
"They order," said I, "this matter better in France."
It's by , was in the 1917 Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, and is available online. Art is educational, though sometimes only about other art.
So wrote clew in Art. | TrackBack