The Suicide of Dido
c. 1520/1530
Medium
engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.410
Art Historical Context
**The Suicide of Dido an engraving by Albrecht Altdorfer from around 1520–1530, captures a dramatic moment from Virgil's *Aeneid*. The queen of Carthage, abandoned by the Trojan hero Aeneas, plunges a sword into her chest amid swirling figures and a turbulent landscape. Altdorfer, a figure of the German Renaissance and the Danube School, masterfully blends classical mythology with his signature northern European style, emphasizing intricate details and atmospheric depth in a compact print format. As an engraving—a labor-intensive intaglio technique where lines are incised into a metal plate a...
About the Artist
Albrecht Altdorfer · 1475–1538
Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538) was a German painter, printmaker, and draftsman who stands as one of the founders of landscape painting as an independent genre. Born in Regensburg or nearby Altdorf, he learned art from his father Ulrich, a painter and miniaturist. Altdorfer spent most of his life in Regensburg, becoming a citizen in 1505 and later serving as the city's official architect and a m...