Focus on Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus and discuss the Description.
Agrippina Landing in Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus is a 641⁄2 x 941⁄2 oil on canvas painting. West's painting depicts the events from the beginning of Tacitus' third book as read to him by his client, the Archbishop of York, Dr. Robert Drummond. She has just arrived in Italy with her children, holding the ashes of her husband the assassinated hero of the Roman Republic. She takes her place in front of the crowd of mourners to lead the procession. Agrippina's likeness is derived from classical friezes found on the Ara Pacis Augustae and other various funeral steles. She was to embody civic virtue and self-restraint.West meticulously arranges the buildings in the painting's background to recall those of Robert Adam's Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian, at Spalato, in Dalmatia, publicized only a few years prior with funding by the Society of Dilettanti. Robert Adam was an archaeologist who visited the site of Diocletian's Palace to study the architecture in-person and recreate it.
Diocletian's Palace Ara Pacis Augustae Tacitus Germanicus Society of Dilettanti Robert Adam Ara Pacis Archbishop of York Dr. Robert Drummond Brundisium