Virgil reading the ''Aeneid'' to Augustus and Octavia

Angelica Kauffmann painted Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia around 1788, depicting the famous historical scene in which the poet read his epic poem to the Roman emperor and his sister, who fainted at the passage describing the death of her son Marcellus. The subject was a touchstone of the Neoclassical celebration of literary culture: the great poet before his imperial patron, the emotional power of great poetry demonstrated through its effect on the listening audience. Kauffmann's treatment combines the classical figure composition of her Neoclassical training with an emotional warmth characteristic of her mature style, the fainting Octavia providing the work's dramatic climax within an otherwise ceremonial scene.

Kauffman arranges the figures in a theatrical tableau with Octavia's swooning form creating the emotional center. The muted Neoclassical palette and sculptural drapery reflect her training in Rome.