''Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire'' is an oil on canvas painting by J. M. W. Turner. The painting is one of Turner's most important works, greatly influenced by the luminous classical landscapes of Claude Lorrain. Turner described it as his

chef d'oeuvre A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

. First exhibited at the

Royal Academy summer exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...

in 1815, Turner kept the painting until he left it to the nation in the Turner Bequest. It has been held by the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

in London since 1856. The subject is a classical landscape taken from

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

''. The figure in blue and white on the left is

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

, directing the builders of the new city of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

. The figure in front of her, wearing armour and facing away from the viewer, may be her

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

lover

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

. Some children are playing with a flimsy toy boat in the water, symbolising the growing but fragile naval power of Carthage, while the tomb of her dead husband Sychaeus, on the right side of the painting, on the other bank of the estuary, foreshadows the eventual doom of Carthage. The painting measures by with the top half of the painting dominated by an intense yellow sunrise, symbolising the dawn of a new empire. The eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 created magnificent sunrises and sunsets which may have inspired Turner's paintings in this period. The painting was widely admired when it was first exhibited at the

in 1815 together ''Crossing the Brook'', a pastoral landscape of the

River Tamar The Tamar (; kw, Dowr Tamar) is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). A part of the Tamar Valley is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities. T ...

in Devon also inspired by Claude Lorrain. However, Turner's work was criticised by Sir George Beaumont, who complained that it was "painted in false taste, not true to nature" and did not reach the heights of Claude Lorrain's works. Turner exhibited a companion piece, '' The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire'', at the summer exhibition in 1817. In the first draft of his first will in 1829, Turner stipulated that he should be buried in the canvas of ''Dido building Carthage'', but changed his mind to make a donation of the painting and ''The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire'' to the National Gallery, on condition that his two paintings should always be hung either side of Claude Lorrain's '' Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba'', a painting that Turner first saw when it was part of the Angerstein collection which later became the nucleus for the National Gallery. His revised will of 1831 changed the bequest, so ''Dido building Carthage'' would be accompanied by '' Sun rising through Vapour'', and the two works would be exhibited alongside ''Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba'' and '' Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca'' (also known as ''The Mill''). A codicil in 1848 donated the remainder of his completed works to the new National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, so they could be displayed together. The Turner Bequest was contested by his relatives, but resolved by 1856 when the works were acquired by the National Gallery. Most of Turner's works eventually moved to the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

in the early 20th century, but ''Dido building Carthage'' and ''Sun rising through Vapour'' remain at the National Gallery, shown with the Claudes; a few other selected works by Turner, including '' Rain, Steam and Speed'' and ''

The Fighting Temeraire ''The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time ...

'' remain as examples of English painting at the National Gallery. File:Claude Lorrain 008.jpg, Claude's ''

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba ''Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba'' is an oil painting by Claude Lorrain (born Claude Gellée, traditionally known as Claude), in the National Gallery, London, signed and dated 1648. The large oil-on-canvas painting was commiss ...

'', 1648 File:Claude Lorrain, The Mill.jpg, Claude's ''Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca'', 1648 File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire - WGA23169.jpg, Turner's ''The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire'', 1817 File:Joseph Mallord William Turner 049.jpg, Turner's ''Sun Rising through Vapour, Fishermen Cleaning and Selling Fish'', 1807 File:William Turner - Crossing the Brook.jpg, Turner's ''Crossing the Brook'', 1815

References

National Gallery

JMW Turner, the English Claude
''The Guardian'', 8 March 2012
''J. M. W. Turner: The Making of a Modern Artist''
Sam Smiles, pp. 42–44, 126–128
''Academies, Museums, and Canons of Art''
Gillian Perry, Colin Cunningham, pp. 183–185
''Angel in the Sun: Turner's Vision of History''
Gerald E. Finley, pp. 63–67
''Cultivating Picturacy: Visual Art And Verbal Interventions''
James A. W. Heffernan, pp. 129–131
Turner biography
Turner Society {{Authority control 1815 paintings Collections of the National Gallery, London Paintings by J. M. W. Turner Water in art Sun in art Paintings based on the Aeneid Cultural depictions of Dido