Secondary sourcePainting
Portrait of Virgil with laurel wreath
H. Bary (engraver); Chr. Pierson (designer)
An engraved book-page portrait of the Roman poet Virgil, crowned with laurel, with Dutch verses and a Latin quotation printed beneath. It is an imagined likeness made long after his death.
It is an imagined portrait of Virgil, showing how later readers pictured the poet, crowned with laurel as a celebrated author.
About this source
What it is
This is an engraved portrait printed on a book page, held by the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. It shows a laurel-crowned man in profile inside an oval frame with an ornate border. Below the image are Dutch verses and a Latin quotation. The engraving credits Chr. Pierson as the designer and H. Bary as the engraver. Inscription number RP-P-1885-A-9284 appears at the lower left.
Why it matters
Virgil lived in the first century BCE, and no reliable likeness of him survives. Portraits like this one were made much later, so they show how readers in later centuries imagined the poet. The laurel wreath marks him as a celebrated poet. The mix of Dutch and Latin text shows how Virgil was read and honoured in a different language and country.
Look closer
- What does the laurel wreath suggest about how the artist wanted Virgil to be seen?
- Which words on the page are in Dutch, and which are in Latin? Who would have been able to read each part?
- What does this portrait leave out about Virgil's real appearance and daily life?
This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Virgil on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
Ready when you are
Start chatting with Virgil now.
20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.