Art Institute of Chicago

Aeneas Carrying His Father, Anchises

Ludolph Büsinck (German, 1599/1602–1669)

Date

1643

Medium

Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in black and beige on ivory laid paper

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Like Goltzius, though less dynamic in his execution, Ludolph Büsinck used the chiaroscuro woodcut technique to depict Aeneas fleeing Troy as it burns while shouldering his elderly father, Anchises. An interesting feature of this print is the correction made in the face of Aeneus’s son Ascanius, in the lower right of the composition. A plug was used to replace a section of the original woodblock, perhaps to reorient the face of the child toward the central action of the scene. Since all known impressions of this print include the same change, the preliminary version of this passage remains a mystery.

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