Aeneas and Anchises at The Louvre, Paris

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Pierre LePautre's sculpture, Enée et Anchise (Aeneas and Anchises), showcases the Trojan hero Aeneas, son of Prince Anchises and Goddess Venus, fleeing Troy as it burns behind him, with his father perched on his shoulders, clutching the sacred Palladium. LePautre crafted the marble from a wax cast created by François Girardon during his time at l'Académie de France à Rome in 1697. The sculpture was transported to France in 1715 and installed at the Château de Marly, where it was completed with the assistance of Jacques Bousseau in 1716 before being relocated to the Tuileries Gardens in 1717 as a companion piece to LePautre's Arria et Pætus. Following the fall of Troy during the Trojan War, elderly Anchises was carried from the burning city by his son Aeneas, accompanied by Aeneas' wife Creusa, who tragically perished during their escape attempt, and young Ascanius. This poignant scene is also depicted in several paintings, including a renowned version by Federico Barocci in Rome's Galleria Borghese. The rescue is referenced in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where Cassius tries to persuade Brutus to assassinate Caesar in a stirring speech.