Harpies Attacking Aeneas and His Companions

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

Sometimes called Micco Spadaro because his father was a sword smith, Domenico Gargiulo had a gestural style of drawing figures and excelled in historical subjects such as this scene from Virgil’s Aeneid . The epic poem about the founding of Rome follows the wanderings of Aeneas, an Odysseus-like character who escaped the destruction of Troy by the Greek army. Here altars of stolen sacrifices attract the attention of a swarm of fearsome harpies—half bird, half woman—who shriek for vengeance.