Description
For this painted-on-stone painting, Hans von Aachen selected the opening scene of Virgil's Aeneid in which Aeolus, the king of Aeolia, releases the Winds and Storms from the cave to attack the Trojan ships at Juno's request.
In the left foreground, the painter has depicted Juno questioning Aeolus, the King of the Winds, who is orchestrating the attack.
The winds are blowing around the sky and blowing hard. Among them the figure of Lightning, represented with shining horns on his head, can also be recognized.
In the midst of the raging sea, the ships of Troy are engulfed by the waves. Above the ship near the foreground, the armored man, Aeneas spreads his arms and prays to heaven, while his mother Venus appears in the sky in her chariot drawn by white doves.
Although Virgil's text does not mention the appearance of the goddess in this scene, the painter inserted this motif, presumably to indicate that Aeneas' fortunes will improve through the mercies of Venus. In the next episode, Dido, the queen of Carthage, will fall in love with Aeneas through the schemes of Venus.
Beautifully grained stones such as marble and alabaster, but also semi-precious stones, were very popular as image carriers for religious or ancient themes. Hans von Aachen made use of the natural structure and color of the stone to represent the stormy sea and the gloomy, cloud-covered sky and to establish strong pictorial contrasts. He is one of the most important painters at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague and worked intensively on stone painting, which was highly valued at the Rudolfini court.