Quos Ego

The traditional title of this engraving, Quos Ego, is a quotation from Virgil. It features the scenes from Book 1 of the Aeneid. The central scene displays Neptune pacifying a storm sent down by the god of wind, Aeolus, against Aeneas and the Trojans upon the order of the goddess Juno. In this situation, Virgil made the outraged Neptune utter the unfinished warning „Quos Ego?“ (Whom I?) as a threat to the disobedient and rebellious winds. The nine surrounding scenes depict more episodes from the Trojan War. The composition was inspired by the famous classical panel from the Capitoline Museums, which captures scenes from Homer’s Iliad. According to Vasari, Raphael in 1516 created a drawing model especially designed for being transferred to print. The preparatory drawings for the work survived and are held in Chatsworth.