Aeneas And Dido, Attributed To Pseudo-Caroselli (Rome, Active C. 1630/1650)

Aeneas and Dido
Attributed to Pseudo-Caroselli (Rome, active c. 1630/1650)
Oil on canvas (148 × 93 cm. - framed 162 × 107 cm.)

The episode depicted in the superb canvas illustrates the beautiful Dido, queen of Carthage, in the moment of supplication towards her beloved Aeneas, who has now decided to abandon her.

According to the Virgilian narration in the 4th book of the Aeneid, Dido fell madly in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus, when he landed in Carthage due to a storm caused by Juno before arriving in Latium. Everything seems to be heading for the most classic of happy endings, until Jupiter arrives implacably, and through Mercury, calls Aeneas back to duty, ordering him to leave again and reach Latium, where he will give rise to the race that will found the city of Rome.

Thanks to a highly theatrical staging with a clear Baroque imprint, we are confronted with an enthralling painting that illustrates a crucial moment in this passionate love story, which, after touching the heights of overwhelming passion, sees the drama of a woman in love follow.

Dido, famous for her beauty and sensuality, is here immortalised in the moment of pleading to her beloved, desperate for her imminent departure, although already aware of the fate that awaits her; she is intent on playing a lute in a last vain attempt to hold him back. Aeneas seems to be listening to the melody intoned in his honour, with a faltering expression, despite Mercury playing a transverse flute, as if to distract him from the queen's music.

His sadness is contrasted, however, by the diligence of the Trojans, whom we see feasting in the background, happy to resume their journey, as they evidently disapprove of the love between the two and the consequent prolongation of the pause.

The author thus seizes the pretext of the epic tale to depict a theme dear to seventeenth-century painting and extremely appreciated by collectors of this period, that dedicated to the universe of music;

The canvas that is the subject of this study, from which the strong suggestions to Caravaggism are immediately evident, can be attributed to the so-called 'Pseudo-Caroselli', a mysterious 'genre painter', perhaps of Nordic origin but whose identity is unknown, close to the manner of the master Angelo Caroselli (Rome 1585-1652), with whom he has often been confused.

He was certainly an artist who had frequented the workshop of the Roman master, most probably one of his pupils. The hypothesis that the Pseudo-Caroselli is a northern European artist, perhaps belonging to the populous colony of Flemish painters who stayed permanently in Rome in the 17th century, is quite widely accepted, but it cannot be ruled out (according to some authors) that it could be Angelo's son, Carlo Caroselli.

The painting clearly stands out as a milestone in the work of this mysterious author, both in terms of quality and the presence of full-length characters, demonstrating here his histrionic and theatrical skill and refined technique. Often the characters that appear in these paintings have grotesque poses and caricatured features, and there is usually a marked sensual allusion.

The painting is in good conservation condition with the presence of an old layer of varnish.