Aeneas Carrying His Father, Anchises
1643
Medium
Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in black and beige on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Border: 34.8 × 21.8 cm (13 3/4 × 8 5/8 in.); Sheet: 35.4 × 22.3 cm (13 15/16 × 8 13/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
12581
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like Goltzius, though less dynamic in his execution, Ludolph Büsinck used the chiaroscuro woodcut technique to depict Aeneas fleeing Troy as it burns while shouldering his elderly father, Anchises. An interesting feature of this print is the correction made in the face of Aeneus’s son Ascanius, in the lower right of the composition. A plug was used to replace a section of the original woodblock, perhaps to reorient the face of the child toward the central action of the scene. Since all known imp...