Aeneid 9/12, Bk. 12, 908 -912 (from the series 'Picturae Cassae: Aeneid)

 

Herlinde Spahr

  1952 - PRESENT (biography)

1982  

lithograph 

19 9/16 x 15 3/8" image size 

pencil, lower right 

9 of 25  

pencil titled and editioned; annotation on verso 

Spahr, Open Studio, 18 

Arches 88 white wove 

published 

Lithium Press 

HESP109 

$550.00 

Herlinde Spahr channels Virgil's epic poem "Aeneid (Aeneis)" as the inspiration for this lithograph. "Aeneid" was written by the Roman poet between 29 and 19 BC in twelve volumes that trace the wanderings of its hero in the first six books and the last six books tell the story of the Trojans' victory over the Latins. Aeneis had been a hero in Homer's "Iliad" from the 8th century BC. Book twelve focuses on the siege of the Trojan camp by Turnus, who eventually battles Aeneis and is slain by him. As part of a deal between the gods Juno and Jupiter the Trojans agree to take on the language of the Latins. The translated text of the twelfth book, verses 908-912 is annotated on verso by the artist in pencil: "Just as in dreams by night, when languid sleep has closed your eyes, in vain we seem to want to forge our anxious path, but halfway along, discouraged, we falter; our tongues are now helpless, our bodies have lost their reliable strength, neither voice nor word can follow."