Aeneas And The Cumaean Sibyl, Bolognese School, Early 19th Century, Tempera On Canvas.

Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl, Bolognese school, early 19th century, tempera on canvas.

Tempera on canvas depicting Aeneas being guided into the cave by the Cumaean Sibyl, set against a heroic and fantastical landscape. The work, dating to the early decades of the 19th century, was historically attributed to Antonio Basoli—an attribution now in need of revision—though its placement within the context of early 19th-century Bolognese figurative art remains plausible. The classical subject—with Aeneas recognizable by his helmet and the Sibyl in the act of showing him the way—is set within a composition dominated by the landscape. Large rocky and vegetated backdrops frame the central opening, creating a deeply scenic, almost theatrical depth. The warm color palette, centered on browns, ochres, and earth tones, along with the contrasts between light and shadow, contribute to a suspended and evocative atmosphere. These characteristics evoke the Bolognese scenographic tradition and, in particular, Basoli’s artistic language, in which the imagined landscape blends neoclassical culture with a sensibility already close to Romanticism. The high quality of the painting and its theatrical composition lend the work particular interest, especially in light of its historical attribution.

Canvas: 52 × 41 cm.

19th-century frame: 64 × 52 cm.