Dido Building Carthage《狄多建设迦太基》

Joseph Mallord William Turner painted Dido Building Carthage as an oil on canvas. The painting is one of Turner’s most notable works.

《狄多建设迦太基》是约瑟夫·马洛德·威廉·透纳创作的一幅布面油画。这幅画是透纳最著名的作品之一。

The painting is based on the English seventeenth-century author and poet John Dryden’s translation of the Aeneid， the monumental Latin poem written by the Roman poet Virgil. Regarded as the founding epic of Ancient Rome， the poem tells the story of the Trojan prince Aeneas. Following the defeat of Troy by the Greeks， Aeneas spends years wandering with his followers before finally settling in Italy. Believing it to be his destiny to found a city， he becomes the ancestor of the Romans. During his travels， Aeneas is shipwrecked at the North African city of Carthage， whose queen， Dido， falls in love with him. After he departs for Italy without her， she kills herself in despair. Eight of Turner’s 11 pictures about Aeneas relate to his association with Dido.

此画是根据17世纪英国作家、诗人约翰·德莱登翻译的拉丁文诗歌《埃涅阿斯纪》创作的，该诗是罗马诗人维吉尔的不朽之作。这首诗被认为是古罗马的立国史诗，讲述了特洛伊王子埃涅阿斯的故事。特洛伊被希腊人攻陷后，埃涅阿斯和他的追随者流浪多年，最终定居意大利。他相信自己肩负建立城邦的使命，后来成为了罗马人的祖先。流浪途中，埃涅阿斯在北非城邦迦太基遭遇海难，迦太基女王狄多爱上了他。埃涅阿斯决然离开去意大利后，她绝望殉情。透纳画过11幅有关埃涅阿斯的画，其中8幅描绘了他与狄多的交往情境。

Aeneas’ story， with its themes of exile， destiny and the founding of a new civilisation through the creation of Rome， clearly appealed to Turner. The rise and fall of empires such as Rome and， in this instance， Carthage， was also a theme that preoccupied him for nearly forty years. He painted 10 major paintings on the history of Carthage. Although not a series， these pictures are meditations on history， and the emergence and collapse of grand human ambitions. These grand narratives frequently concern a historical figure whose fate is subject to forces beyond their control. For Turner， the story of Carthage was also the tragic story of Dido and Aeneas.

埃涅阿斯故事的主题有流放、有命运，还有通过创建罗马建立新文明——透纳显然被这故事吸引住了。罗马和此画涉及的迦太基等帝国的兴衰也是透纳关注了近40年的主题。他画了10幅关于迦太基历史的重要画作。虽然不成系列，但这些画是对历史的思考，也是对人类勃勃野心沉浮的思考。这些宏大的叙事常常涉及一个命运在天不由己的历史人物。在透纳看来，迦太基的故事也是狄多和埃涅阿斯的悲剧故事。

Dido， the figure in blue and white on the left， is guiding the construction of Carthage’s new city. The man in a cloak and helmet standing before her is probably Aeneas. Wearing a diadem and accompanied by a Black servant and young purse-bearer， Turner’s Dido may have been inspired by a recent operatic production. Rather than a love-struck or doomed victim， she is a commanding figure of strength.

画面左侧，身穿蓝白长袍的狄多正在指导迦太基新城的建设。她前面站着一个披斗篷、戴头盔的男子，很可能就是埃涅阿斯。透纳笔下的狄多头戴王冠，身边跟着一个黑人仆从和年轻的捧玺官，这样的形象可能是受到当时新上的一部歌剧的启发。她不是为爱痴狂或在劫难逃的牺牲品，而是有着强大力量的领袖人物。

Some children are playing with a frail toy boat in the sea， symbolizing Carthage’s rising but fragile naval strength， while the grave of her late husband Sychaeus， on the right side of the picture， on the opposite bank of the estuary， foreshadows Carthage’s impending tragedy.

几个小孩正在玩水面上漂着的一艘单薄的玩具船，那船象征着迦太基逐渐崛起但依然脆弱的海军力量，而她亡夫歇卡埃乌斯的坟墓就在画面右侧的河口对岸，预示迦太基悲剧将临。

This is the first of Turner’s paintings in which he intended to match the seventeenth-century French landscape painter， Claude Lorrain， in particular his seaport paintings. These typically include a wide stretch of water， extending to the horizon in the picture’s centre， flanked by classical buildings and tall trees rising from the quay. A crowd of figures and scenes of harbour life usually complete the scene. Although Turner broadly follows Claude’s model， his own painting is filled with architectural features， human activity and highly textured detail not found in Claude’s more classical compositions.

透纳希望自己的画技能与17世纪的法国风景画家克劳德·洛兰比肩，尤其是他描绘海港的系列画作，是透纳第一次作此尝试。那些海港画往往会描绘一大片水域，水面延伸到画面中心的地平线，码头两侧矗立着古典建筑和高大树木。画中通常还有人物群像和海港生活场景，令整个画面更加完整。透纳大体遵循了克劳德的构图模式，但他的画还呈现了克劳德那些经典构图中所没有的建筑特征、人类活动和质感极强的细节。

Turner held onto the painting until he donated it to the country in the Turner Bequest after first exhibiting it at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1815. The National Gallery in London has owned it since 1856.

1815年，这幅画在英国皇家美术学院的夏季展览上首展，此后便由透纳本人保存，直到以“透纳遗赠”之名捐给国家。自1856年起，该画一直由位于伦敦的英国国家美术馆收藏。