Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and the Fainting Octavia

Image credit: National Trust Images

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Virgil has been reading from a passage in the sixth book of his own epic poem in which Octavia's dead son Marcellus is highly praised, at which point Octavia faints with grief. Here Octavia is being supported by her brother, the Emporer Augustus. The anecdotal story is recorded in the late fourth-century 'Life of Virgil' by Aelius Donatus.

National Trust, Stourhead

Warminster

Title

Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and the Fainting Octavia

Date

c.1786/1791

Medium

oil on paper

Measurements

H 12.5 x W 17 cm

Accession number

732383

Acquisition method

purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund, 1990

Work type

Painting

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National Trust, Stourhead

Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6QD England

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