Dido Building Carthage《狄多建設迦太基》

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

《狄多建設迦太基》是約瑟夫·馬洛德·威廉·透納創作的一幅布面油畫。這幅畫是透納最著名的作品之一。

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.

此畫是根據17世紀英國作家、詩人約翰·德萊登翻譯的拉丁文詩歌《埃涅阿斯紀》創作的，該詩是羅馬詩人維吉爾的不朽之作。這首詩被認為是古羅馬的立國史詩，講述了特洛伊王子埃涅阿斯的故事。特洛伊被希臘人攻陷后，埃涅阿斯和他的追隨者流浪多年，最終定居意大利。他相信自己肩負建立城邦的使命，后來成為了羅馬人的祖先。流浪途中，埃涅阿斯在北非城邦迦太基遭遇海難，迦太基女王狄多愛上了他。埃涅阿斯決然離開去意大利后，她絕望殉情。透納畫過11幅有關埃涅阿斯的畫，其中8幅描繪了他與狄多的交往情境。

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.

埃涅阿斯故事的主題有流放、有命運，還有通過創建羅馬建立新文明——透納顯然被這故事吸引住了。羅馬和此畫涉及的迦太基等帝國的興衰也是透納關注了近40年的主題。他畫了10幅關于迦太基歷史的重要畫作。雖然不成系列，但這些畫是對歷史的思考，也是對人類勃勃野心沉浮的思考。這些宏大的敘事常常涉及一個命運在天不由己的歷史人物。在透納看來，迦太基的故事也是狄多和埃涅阿斯的悲劇故事。

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.

畫面左側，身穿藍白長袍的狄多正在指導迦太基新城的建設。她前面站著一個披斗篷、戴頭盔的男子，很可能就是埃涅阿斯。透納筆下的狄多頭戴王冠，身邊跟著一個黑人仆從和年輕的捧璽官，這樣的形象可能是受到當時新上的一部歌劇的啟發。她不是為愛癡狂或在劫難逃的犧牲品，而是有著強大力量的領袖人物。

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.

幾個小孩正在玩水面上漂著的一艘單薄的玩具船，那船象征著迦太基逐漸崛起但依然脆弱的海軍力量，而她亡夫歇卡埃烏斯的墳墓就在畫面右側的河口對岸，預示迦太基悲劇將臨。

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.

透納希望自己的畫技能與17世紀的法國風景畫家克勞德·洛蘭比肩，尤其是他描繪海港的系列畫作，是透納第一次作此嘗試。那些海港畫往往會描繪一大片水域，水面延伸到畫面中心的地平線，碼頭兩側矗立著古典建筑和高大樹木。畫中通常還有人物群像和海港生活場景，令整個畫面更加完整。透納大體遵循了克勞德的構圖模式，但他的畫還呈現了克勞德那些經典構圖中所沒有的建筑特征、人類活動和質感極強的細節。

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，這幅畫在英國皇家美術學院的夏季展覽上首展，此后便由透納本人保存，直到以“透納遺贈”之名捐給國家。自1856年起，該畫一直由位于倫敦的英國國家美術館收藏。