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Aeneas Saving Anchises at the Fall of Troy
Also known as: Study for Aeneas' Flight from Troy
About the Artwork
In book two of Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid (29-19 BC), the Trojan hero Aeneas escapes from the burning city of Troy and its Greek invaders with his family. Here the artist shows them making their way through a classical corridor. Aeneas carries his elderly father, Anchises, entrusted with holding their household gods. Aeneas holds the hand of his son, Ascanius, and his wife Creusa follows behind. Creusa's separation from the group alludes to her fate: she will fall behind and not survive their flight. Quick sketches on the right border of the sheet show Barocci practicing the balancing pose of Aeneas as he carries his father, and the stance of Creusa. The drawing relates to a now lost painting by Barocci and was also made into an engraving by Agostino Carracci (see CMA 1963.456). Details in the drawing such as the dog bounding down the stairs and Creusa's flowing hair and head scarf do not appear in the engraving.
Inscriptions
lower left, in brown ink: 17 ; lower right, in brown ink: [illegible] ; lower right, in brown ink: 55 ; VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, center, in brown ink: Intagliato da Agostino Caracci. Il quadro è in Casa Borghese . [sideways] ; upper right, in graphite: 2767 [circled]
Provenance
Possibly Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Antwerp, (according to Jaffé 1963). ?-1740: Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), Paris. 1741: his sale, 10 April-13 May 1741, lot 248. ?-1784: Jean Baptiste François Nourri (1697-1784), Paris 1785: his sale, 24 February-14 March 1785, lot 119. Charles Paul Jean Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart de Moligny, comte de Saint-Morys (1743-1795), Paris ?-1875: Guichardot, Paris 1875: his sale, Paris, 7-10 July 1875, no. 18 1960: with Erardo Aeschlimann, Milan. 1960-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964). Art in Italy, 1600-1700. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (April 6-May 9, 1965). Art in Italy, 1600-1700. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (April 6-May 9, 1965). Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968). Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 26, 1968). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (April 29-June 13, 1976). The Graphic Art of Frederico Barocci. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 15-March 25, 1978). The Graphic Art of Federico Barocci. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 15-March 26, 1978). The Graphic Art of Frederico Barocci. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (April 15-June 4, 1978). The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 6-April 22, 1979). Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981). National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983). Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987). Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 20, 1991). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Federico Barocci (Italian, 1528–1612)
- Date
- 1587–88
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash and yellow gouache heightened with traces of white, over black chalk, with stylus (banister); framing lines in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 27.7 x 42.6 cm (10 7/8 x 16 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- L. E. Holden Fund
- Accession no.
- 1960.26
More by Federico Barocci in museum collections
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Federico Barocci1568/69 · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000311
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