Creusa, Ascanius, and Aeneas in Renaissance Prague

0563193 - FLÚ 2023 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Bažant, Jan
Creusa, Ascanius, and Aeneas in Renaissance Prague.
Studia Hercynia. Roč. 26, č. 1 (2022), s. 196-214. ISSN 1212-5865. E-ISSN 2336-8144
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Villa Star * Prague * renaissaance * classical tradition * ancient myth * stucco
OECD category: Arts, Art history
Method of publishing: Open access
https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/175990

This paper analyses the figural stucco in the Villa Hvězda (1555–1563) in Prague, depicting Aeneas with his father Anchises on his back and accompanied by his son Ascanius and his wife, Creusa. In numerous 16th century representations, Creusa always walks behind Aeneas, and Ascanius is always accompanying Aeneas. In the Villa Hvězda, the protagonists of the Flight from Troy are Aeneas and his wife, Creusa. Aeneas carries Anchises on his back, and in front of him, Creusa leads their son Ascanius. This anomaly calls for an explanation, and it may be this, that Creusa allegorically stands for Queen Anne as a model of a pious matriarch of the Habsburgs.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0335403