Virgilio leyendo la Eneida
1864
Imagine being so moved by a poem that you pass out—that's exactly what's happening here. The poet Virgil, wearing his laurel wreath, is reading Book VI of the Aeneid to Emperor Augustus and his sister Octavia. He reaches the part describing the tragic death of Octavia's son, Marcellus, in the underworld, and the grief is too much; she collapses on the couch while Augustus reaches out to comfort her. Ingres painted this with his signature smooth, polished Neoclassical style, freezing a moment where ancient poetry hits with the emotional force of a modern soap opera.
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