The Royal Hunt of Dido and Aeneas c. 1712

Francesco Solimena painted “The Royal Hunt of Dido and Aeneas” sometime between the late 17th and early 18th century, using oil on canvas. The story, taken from Virgil’s Aeneid, shows the Carthaginian queen Dido meeting the Trojan hero Aeneas. The painting presents love as a matter of politics and dynastic succession. Venus, queen of love, and Juno, queen of marriage, are shown scheming to get Dido and Aeneas together to prevent Aeneas from founding Rome. As a Neapolitan artist, Solimena was influenced by the theatricality of Roman Baroque. This is visible in the dramatic lighting and dynamic composition, but also in the way this painting would have functioned as decoration within a larger architectural setting. A work like this tells us about the cultural values of the time. We can turn to historical sources like letters, diaries, and inventories to reconstruct how such works were understood and used in their original context.