Reading of Vergil's The Aeneid at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Armor Court

The Cleveland Museum of Arts Dido and Aeneas tapestries tell the story of Book IV of Vergils The Aeneid. As part of Vergil Week, Case Western Reserve has partnered with CMA to host a reading of the book next Wednesday.

When I was in high school, one of my favorite subjects was Latin (I’ve said it before – I’m a huge nerd!). A lot of this can be credited to my amazing teacher Mrs. Betty Merrill, a legend at James Monroe H.S. in Virginia. My favorite part of class was that she challenged us while delving deep into classic texts. One of these was Vergil’s The Aeneid, which we translated and read over the course of my junior year.

The Aeneid fascinated me – a sweeping epic poem that tells the legend of Aeneas, a Trojan who flees the city at the end of the Trojan Wars and sails to Italy, where he eventually becomes the ancestor of the Romans. It was full of battles, love, the Roman gods and other mythical creatures. I was enthralled as we worked through it translating it bit by bit.

I’m not the only one the story has fascinated – evident by the numerous retellings, parodies, and works of art it has inspired.  As I wrote a couple of months ago, an example of this can be found in our own backyard at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Armor Court.

The perfect complement to the weapons of war that fill the room are the Dido and Aeneas tapestries hanging from the walls.  These 8 tapestries tell the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas – just one of the tales of intrigue in The Aeneid. 

These tapestries – which are as epic in scale as the poem they were based on – were designed and woven in the 1600s by the Roman painter Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and Michel Wauters’ tapestry workshop.

The Dido and Aeneas Tapestries in the Cleveland Armor Court are the perfect complement to the weapons and armor that fill the room.

Since being donated in 1915, they’ve become part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s history.  They came to the museum during the tenure of its first director, Frederick Whiting, who “believed in elucidating art, not just warehousing it” according to museum archivist Leslie Cade. And except for a few conservation trips, the tapestries have hung in the same place in the museum since its 1916 opening.

While the Armor Court is something you should check out anytime of the year, there’s a unique opportunity to enjoy the room on April 20.  To coincide with National Poetry Month, Case Western Reserve University is celebrating Vergil Week.

The inner Latin geek in me is really looking forward to the lecture, reading and concert they’re hosting next Wednesday evening as part of the week-long festival.  I can’t wait to listen to the dramatic reading of Book IV: “The Dido Tragedy” in the shadow of artwork inspired by it.

The evening starts at 5:30pm with a lecture in the Museum’s Recital Hall by Timothy Wutrich called “Theatricality in the Cleveland Dido and Aeneas Tapestries.” Then at 6:30, the event moves to the Armor Court for the dramatic reading. It concludes with a concert from The Early Music Singers conducted by Debra Nagy.  The celebration is co-sponsored by Case’s Department of Classics and the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities.

Interested in hearing the whole Aeneid? You’ll have your chance the next day, Thursday, April 21, from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm in the SAGES Cafe of Case’s Crawford Hall. Participants are invited to join in a continuous public reading of the full epic and enjoy an exhibition of art inspired by The Aeneid. You can find the full schedule of Case Western Reserve’s Vergil Week on their site. It kicks off with a Vergilian Footrace on Sunday and concludes next Friday with a Symposium called “Tradition: Vergil in Literature and the Arts.”

Cleveland Museum of Art / CWRU Vergil Week 411:

• Cleveland Museum of Art Hours and Admission
• CMA Current Exhibitions
• CMA Calendar of Events
• Case Western Reserve’s Vergil Week Schedule

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