Virgil reading The Aeneid before Augustus, Livia and Octavia

作品描述

This painting depicts the moment when Virgil, reciting his work to Emperor Augustus, his wife Livia and his sister Octavia, mentions the name of Octavia's dead son, Marcellus, causing Octavia to faint. Augustus' advisors, Marcus Agrippa and Gaius Maecenas, can be seen watching in the background. The scene is based on an anecdote from the late fourth-century vita of Virgil by Aelius Donatus, where the poet read a passage in Book VI in praise of Octavia's late son Marcellus, leading to Octavia's grief-induced fainting. This event has also been depicted by other artists such as Jean-Joseph Taillasson and Angelica Kaufmann.