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Secondary sourcePainting

Study for Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

A preparatory drawing by Ingres for his painting of the poet Virgil reading to the emperor Augustus and his family.

A study for a painting imagining Augustus listening to the poet Virgil, part of later artistic memory of his reign.

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Pencil and white chalk drawing on tan paper showing a study of a seated standing man gesturing toward a reclining nude woman, with a sketched figure in the background and faint grid lines. A signature appears lower left.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Study for Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, 1942.44.B.

About this source

What it is

This pencil and white chalk drawing on tan paper is a preparatory study by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres for his painting showing the poet Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus. It shows a seated or standing man gesturing toward a reclining figure, with another figure sketched in the background and faint grid lines used to transfer the composition. It is signed in the lower corner.

Why it matters

The finished painting depicted a famous (and possibly legendary) moment in which Virgil read his epic poem about Rome's founding to Augustus and his family. This study shows the careful planning Ingres put into recreating a scene from ancient history, reflecting how later European artists used classical subjects to explore themes of power, poetry, and patronage.

Look closer

  • What does the grid pattern tell you about how artists transferred sketches onto a final canvas?
  • Why might an artist choose this moment between a poet and an emperor as a subject?
  • What is left out of a sketch that might appear in the finished painting?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Augustus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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