New photography by Pat Cagney captured with a digital camera.

The Flight from Troy (Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius)

ArtistAfter Laurent Guiard (French, 1723-1788)

CultureFrench

Dateafter 1766

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 37 1/2 in. (95.3 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number69.34.2

Not on view

DescriptionBronze sculpture with a dark red-brownish varnish. Of Aeneas carrying Anchises over his shoulder, with a young boy beside him.

Label TextAfter Laurent Guiard French (1723-1788) The Flight from Troy (Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius), after 1766 Bronze Museum purchase 69.34.2 This complex, multi-figure sculpture depicts the critical moment in Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, when the hero Aeneas flees the burning city of Troy with his aged father Anchises and young son Ascanius. Anchises brings with him the household gods, here represented by a statuette of the goddess Athena. The family's flight begins a series of events in Virgil's narrative that leads to the founding of Rome. Aeneas's devotion to his father, whom he refuses to abandon to the flames and ultimately carries from the burning city, was traditionally viewed as a prime example of filial virtue. Guiard perfected his composition in a half life-size plaster cast while studying in Rome in 1766. The sculpture's ancient Roman theme and lofty moral tone were hallmarks of the neoclassical style then fashionable in Europe. The sculpture appealed particularly to French and Italian buyers, and a number of smaller, bronze casts were commissioned, among them the present work. Exhibition History"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006.