Dido receiving Aeneas and Cupid disguised as Ascanius
The subject of this painting is taken from Virgil's Aeneid (Book 1). Dido, Queen of Carthage, is being tricked into falling in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas: she has been made to believe by her enemy, Venus, that Cupid is Aeneas' son, Ascanius.