Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Latinus.
The gallery
Latinus Offering his Daughter Lavinia to Aeneas in Matrimony
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1753–1754
Tiepolo stages King Latinus as the host who yields Lavinia to the Trojan stranger — the oracle-bound father of Latium in Aeneid VII. Baroque gesture makes the Latin king the hinge between welcome and the war Alecto will kindle.
Aeneas before Latinus
Ferdinand Bol, c. 1661–1663
Bol’s Rijksmuseum canvas (SK-A-614) shows Aeneas received at Latinus’ court — embassy, gifts, and the king who must weigh an oracle against Turnus’ claim. Dutch classicism keeps Latinus the seated authority of Latium’s first contact with Troy.
Alecto Rousing Latinus Against Aeneas
Unknown (after Virgil), 17th–18th century
LACMA print of Alecto poisoning Latinus’ house against the Trojans — Virgil’s Fury at work on the Latin king. The image names Latinus as the mortal whose court becomes the fuse of the Italian war.
King Latinus Predicts Aeneas' Arrival in Latium
Annibale Carracci (attributed circle), c. 16th–17th century
A Carracci-school scene of Latinus as prophetic host — the king who reads the omen of the foreign son-in-law. Italian disegno keeps him the Latian ruler of the Aeneid’s second half, not Hesiod’s Circean Latinus.