Dido Building Carthage. Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire is an oil on canvas painting by J. M. W. Turner.
The painting is one of Turner's most important works, greatly influenced by the luminous classical landscapes of Claude Lorraine. Turner described it as his chef d'oeuvre.
First exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1815, Turner kept the painting until he left it to the nation in the Turner Bequest. It has been held by the National Gallery in London since 1856.
The subject is a classical landscape taken from Virgil's Aeneid. The figure in blue and white on the left is Dido, directing the builders of the new city of Carthage.
The figure in front of her, wearing armour and facing away from the viewer, may be her Trojan lover Aeneas. Some children are playing with a flimsy toy boat in the water, symbolising the growing but fragile naval power of Carthage, while the tomb of her dead husband Sychaeus, on the right side of the painting, on the other bank of the estuary, foreshadows the eventual doom of Carthage. The painting measures 155.5 centimetres by 230 centimetres with the top half of the painting dominated by an intense yellow sunrise, symbolising the dawn of a new empire. The eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 created magnificent sunrises and sunsets which may have inspired Turner's paintings in this period. The painting was widely admired when it
The painting is one of Turner's most important works, greatly influenced by the luminous classical landscapes of Claude Lorraine. Turner described it as his chef d'oeuvre.
First exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1815, Turner kept the painting until he left it to the nation in the Turner Bequest. It has been held by the National Gallery in London since 1856.
The subject is a classical landscape taken from Virgil's Aeneid. The figure in blue and white on the left is Dido, directing the builders of the new city of Carthage.
The figure in front of her, wearing armour and facing away from the viewer, may be her Trojan lover Aeneas. Some children are playing with a flimsy toy boat in the water, symbolising the growing but fragile naval power of Carthage, while the tomb of her dead husband Sychaeus, on the right side of the painting, on the other bank of the estuary, foreshadows the eventual doom of Carthage. The painting measures 155.5 centimetres by 230 centimetres with the top half of the painting dominated by an intense yellow sunrise, symbolising the dawn of a new empire. The eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 created magnificent sunrises and sunsets which may have inspired Turner's paintings in this period. The painting was widely admired when it
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