Neptune and the Winds
Tiepolo illustrates a celebrated passage from Virgil's Aeneid describing how Neptune calmed the winds to save the Trojan hero Aeneas from shipwreck. Neptune raises his arm to challenge personifications of the winds, who flee across the foreground. Jupiter, identifiable with his eagle, is shown boldly foreshortened, a decision made in order for the scene to appear to rise illusionistically through the painted ceiling. This sketch may be related to Tiepolo’s decoration of a room with an apotheosis of Aeneas (1764–66) in the Palacio Real, Madrid.
Artwork Details
- Title: Neptune and the Winds
- Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid)
- Date: 1760s
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: Round painted surface, 24 1/2 x 24 1/2 in. (62.2 x 62.2 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1937
- Object Number: 37.165.4
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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