Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius

Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius is a sculpture by the Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1619. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The group sculpture represents Aeneas fleeing from the burning city of Troy bearing his elderly father Anchises on his shoulders, and his son Ascanius carrying the sacred fire of the hearth, while Anchises holds the penates family household gods. The twenty-one-year old Bernini, still influ... more

Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius is a sculpture by the Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1619. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The group sculpture represents Aeneas fleeing from the burning city of Troy bearing his elderly father Anchises on his shoulders, and his son Ascanius carrying the sacred fire of the hearth, while Anchises holds the penates family household gods. The twenty-one-year old Bernini, still influenced by his father Pietro's late 16th century tower-shaped compositions, executed this group around 1618 and 1620, though many experts believe that this is mainly his father's work. less