Dido invoking the Gods, 15 March 1784

Jean-Marie Delatre (1746 - 1843)

RA Collection: Art

This is a much reduced, reversed copy of a stipple-engraving originally produced by Delatre under the supervision of Francesco Bartolozzi RA and published in 1780 by Anne Bryer (De Vesme-Calabri, no.407). This version was published in 1784 by James Gamble. The print forms a pendant to 'Penelope weeping over the bow of Ulysses' (see 04/2320) and was probably intended to be sold as a singly- issued print in its own right. The purpose in reversing the image in this smaller version might have been to achieve a more satisfactory effect when the two prints were seen together as a pair.

Delatre's print reproduces quite closely a small oval oil on copper also described as 'Dido at the funeral pyre calling on the gods' (with Derek Johns Gallery, 12 Duke Street, London, September 2000) that may perhaps be the picture that the artist exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1777 (cat. no.193).