Annotations
Neptune on his seahorse drawn chariot and the sea creatures come to help the beleaguered Trojan ships from the storm; there is a god in the sunshine in the clouds making a princely gesture (Jupiter?).
Neptun auf seinem Seepferdwagen und Meereswesen kommen den vom Sturm bedrängten trojanischen Schiffen zu Hilfe; ein Gott im Sonnenglanz mit herrscherlicher Gebärde in den Wolken (Jupiter?). (Suerbaum)
Engraving from a German children’s picture-book version of the Aeneid by G. J. Lang and G. C. Eimmart, “A tapestry of Roman virtues as seen in Vergil’s Aeneas and his brave deeds, rendered in sparkling engravings, as illustrations of the remarkable deeds of antiquity, for the common benefit of noble youth,” (Peplus virtutum Romanarum in Aenea Virgiliano eiusque rebus fortiter gestis, ad maiorem antiquitatis et rerum lucem, communi iuventutis sacratae bono, aere renitens) (Nuremburg: J.L. Buggel, 1688), pl. 3.
In the left foreground Neptune, in the midst of his seahorses, motions with his trident (45). Cymothoe and Triton (144), work in tandem to help the fleet of Aeneas. The sky is stormy with dark clouds but in the upper right hand corner a god appears in sunshine. Suerbaum hesitantly identifies him as Jupiter, but the clean-shaven face, the laurel wreath, and the toga indicate that it may be Caesar (Julius or Augustus). (Lucy McInerney)