DIDON AND ENÉE: THE DEPARTURE FROM CARTHAGE Flanders,... Lot 49

DIDON AND ENÉE: THE DEPARTURE FROM CARTHAGE Flanders, Brussels ?, circa 1580 Wool and silk H. 380 x W. 336 cm This tapestry, whose subject is taken from the Aeneid, represents the departure from Carthage. In a coastal landscape, Queen Dido shows the troops returning to the shore. Beside her, Aeneas is preparing to rejoin his army; he is accompanied by a black servant. Below, a couple curiously dressed in 16th-century fashion are shown. The man is wearing a large flat hat, typically Flemish. They are sitting on the grass behind an iron box. This detail of courtly inspiration recalls Dido's noble origin and their past love affairs. Dido, the daughter of the king of Tyre, was married to a rich Phoenician . Widowed, she fled with the treasure of her dead husband, who had been murdered. Her journey led her to the North African coast. There she founded the kingdom of Carthage, where Aeneas and his companions were stranded after the Greeks took Troy. Virgil tells the story of their passion, which was thwarted by the gods, who pushed Aeneas to leave in order to give the Trojans a new kingdom. Dido will not survive his departure. Our composition is framed by a large compartmented border, decorated with flowering bouquets, in the spirit of the Brussels tapestries. It presents a gallery of picturesque characters, punctuated by large figures of women musicians.