Gaspard Dughet, Landscape with the Union of Dido and Aeneas (c.1664-8)

By Kind Permission of a Private Collection

Gaspard Dughet, known to Ruskin as Gaspard Poussin, Landscape with the Union of Dido and Aeneas (c.1664-8) (Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 224.2 cm). Number Ninety Five, National Gallery. The painting is based on an account from Virgil's Aeneid of the Trojan hero Aeneas who became the lover of Dido. During a hunting trip, after Aeneas had become Dido's guest, they were caught in a storm and sheltered in a cave, as depicted in the painting. The immortals who engendered their love (Juno, Venus and Hymen) are also featured in the painting. The 1995 National Gallery Catalogue notes that the figures in the painting are very similar to the style of Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) ( Baker and Henry, National Gallery Catalogue, p.201). However, it is believed that the landscape itself is by Dughet. Ruskin is disparaging of the painting in Modern Painters II (1843), in 'Of Imagination Associative': 'The stormy wind of the picture of Dido and Æneas blows loudly through its leaves; but the total want of invention in the cloud forms bears it down beyond redemption' ( Works, 4.243). Ruskin makes a brief reference to the painting in his 'Notes on the Turner Gallery at Marlborough House, 1856' (1857), ( Works, 13.152).

AT

Gaspar Dughet 1615-75
Landscape with the Union of Dido and Æneas 1664-8
Oil on canvas, 152.4x224.2cm
Provenance: Falconieri collection, Rome, probably by 1717; acquired by Holwell Carr in 1805; his bequest 1831
Further Comments: The 'Dido and Aeneas' is referred to as 'one of the windy Gaspars'.
Collection: National Gallery, London