Dido

Artists customarily portrayed Dido as a forlorn lover abandoned by the Trojan hero, Aeneas, but here she is a conquering queen. Dido draws aside an oxhide curtain, a reference to the mythical founding of Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia, North Africa), when she was given an oxhide to demarcate granted land. By cutting it into thin strips she was able to encircle the future city. <em>Dido</em> was likely created for display in a <em>studiolo</em>, a place of study featuring refined works of art appreciated by humanist scholars and aficionados during the Renaissance.