Ekphrasis on the Fall of Troy

The frame is gilt, gleaming against the dark corners of the painting, and takes up the whole far wall of the gallery room. And while it is eye-catching for the luxurious way it hangs the artwork, you nonetheless forget about it when you take in the smoky grays and blacks of the painting's background. The scene takes place within a Trojan house —though the influence of the Renaissance is everywhere, from the thick banister flanking stairs at the bottom-left corner to the metal, almost knight-like helmet at the bottom right —where rubble lies scattered on the floor near the front and fallen bedsheets, a verdant green color, half-cover a spear and the forgotten metal helmet. Through the window on the left, next to the staircase, smoke and flames lick upwards into the crumbling villa, sparking against a column built into the wall. Pillars decorate the wall that leads further back into the house toward an archway opening up to the outside, beyond which you can see Troy burning: a man hangs over a parapet connected to the house, Greek soldiers slay Trojan citizens in the street, and on the steps of a domed temple Greeks chase out and overtake the people in flight. Farthest back, in the distant center of the painting, a palace-like building burns into the night.

It's easy to miss details like these, however, because of the main focus of the painting. In the center four figures flee into the night, running away from the destruction of the palace and temple through the crumbling and burning villa: Aeneas, Anchises, Ascanius, and Creusa. Their flight mirrors the classic scene of the Aeneid where the family realizes that they must leave behind their home or else be murdered by the Greek invasion, so Aeneas hoists his elderly and unwilling father over his shoulder, grabs his son Ascanius by the hand, and takes off towards a safe haven outside the city, Creusa a few fatal steps behind.

So this painting captures their struggles. Aeneas, looking less like a golden Trojan and more like a Frenchman because of his stylized mustache and trimmed beard, climbs over the rubble as he balances his father over his left shoulder, both arms hooked under the old man's knees. He can't run very fast, and he keeps his eyes on his feet to watch his next steps, his sandals balanced on the rocks as he goes. He's dressed as a soldier, chain-mail underneath a green tunic and a metal helmet covering his head. But any sword is not apparent, as he does his best to get out of the city as elusively as possible. Anchises, draped over his shoulder and only half-dressed in a golden tunic, stares ahead in distress as he clings tightly to the Penates; and Anchises, frightened and coming up only to Aeneas' hip, clings to his father's clothing as he presses his hand tightly to his right ear, looking frightened and confused as he struggles to keep up. Creusa is several feet behind the family, unable to keep up with the family even as her red and white tunic flutters behind her in her flight. Already the painting symbolizes her inevitable death, as she is sequestered to the background and not touching any member of her family.