Sebastian Vrancx Antwerp 1573 - 1647

This is one of a series of at least sixty-five drawings illustrating Virgil's epic, which were first attributed to Vrancx by Ruth Muthmann and Andrew Robison in 1983, and are fully discussed by Louisa Wood Ruby (see L. Wood Ruby, 'Sebastiaen Vrancx as Illustrator of Virgil's Aeneid,' Master Drawings, vol. XXVIII, no. 1, 1990, pp. 54-73).  In most of the surviving drawings from this series, the image occupies the upper half of the sheet, while below it is written the text that it illustrates. Here, these texts have been cut off, but otherwise the format and handling are identical with Vrancx's other drawings for Virgil.  Wood Ruby dates these drawings circa 1615, and points out not only that they constitute the most extensive series of Aeneid illustrations since Sebastian Brandt's of 1502, but also that the rhymed Dutch paraphrasing of Virgil's text that appears below the images does not correspond with any published translation of the original, and may indeed represent Vrancx's own attempt at a new translation. 

We are extremely grateful to Dr. Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute who, despite the lack of text, has succeeded in identifying at least three of the subjects depicted, as follows: The Death of Camilla (XI: 785-835); Iris telling Turnus ‘in the grove of his grandfather Pilumnus’ that Aeneas had left the Trojan army to seek reinforcements amongst the Tuscans (IX, 1ff); Turnus and his horsemen storm up to the walls of the Trojan camp and challenge the Aeneas-less Trojans to fight (IX: 25-68).  According to Dr. Taylor, the fourth scene is more difficult, but may well represents Aeneas and Turnus agreeing to fight single combat (XII: 161-75), with Juturna’s interview with Juno (XII: 134-60) also shown, in the clouds.