# Harpies Attacking Aeneas and His Companions

- By: Domenico Gargiuli (Micco Spadaro) (Italian, 1609-c. 1675)
- Date: n.d.
- Medium: Pen and iron gall ink on cream laid paper
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 19.1 × 26.6 cm (7 9/16 × 10 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/84680)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/f368316038b20a12e40bd8a15c3f17b5.jpg
- Who can see it: Adult profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Sometimes called Micco Spadaro because his father was a sword smith, Domenico Gargiulo had a gestural style of drawing figures and excelled in historical subjects such as this scene from Virgil’s Aeneid. The epic poem about the founding of Rome follows the wanderings of Aeneas, an Odysseus-like character who escaped the destruction of Troy by the Greek army. Here altars of stolen sacrifices attract the attention of a swarm of fearsome harpies—half bird, half woman—who shriek for vengeance.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0