Jean-Joseph Taillasson - Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia [1787]

Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia [1787], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The poet Virgil reads to the Emperor Augustus and his sister Octavia a passage from the Aeneid, in praise of Octavia's dead son Marcellus. She swoons with grief. The subject is from the Life of Virgil by Donatus.

Taillasson was born in Bordeaux. He trained in Paris as a pupil of Vien, a neo-classical artist, who also taught David. Taillasson became a member of the Academy in 1784. He painted mostly subject pictures based on ancient history and regularly exhibited at the Salon in Paris.

[Oil on canvas, 147.2 x 166.9 cm]