Neptune calming the Tempest which Aeolus raised against Aeneas Fleet ('Quos Ego')

This fascinating engraving depicts, in nine framed images, various episodes from Virgil's Aeneid. The print is also known as Quos Ego, based on Neptune's threatening exclamation as he battles the winds unleashed by Aelous in the Sicilian Sea to save the Trojan fleet from the storm - a scene depicted in the largest panel at the centre of the print.

The engraving presents the different scenes in the form of a tabula Iliaca (ancient relief sculpture), but also resembles the design of Roman vaulted ceilings. The images surrounding the central one are accompanied by five text panels with Latin hexameter, composed by the Roman poet Vomanus to describe the content of Book I of the Aeneid. The erudite and highly ambitious composition is certainly due to the influence of humanist, bibliophile and long-time friend of Raphael, the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Bembo. Raphael had first portrayed Bembo in his native Urbino in 1506, and was reunited with him in Rome when Bembo became Secretary to the Pope.

According to Vasari, this print was among the first made by Raimondi in Rome.

Almost identical preparatory drawings for three of Raimondi's most important engravings after Raphael, including the present print, The Judgement of Paris and The Massacre of the Innocents (The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth, inv. no. 727a, b, c), are testament to the close cooperation between the painter and the engraver.

The figurative topoi of Quos Ego frequently served as models for Italian maiolica istoriato ceramics, as did indeed many of Raimondi's prints after Raphael's designs.

(See E. H. Wouk & D. Morris (eds.), Marcantonio Raimondi, Raphael and the Image Multiplied, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2016, no. 37, p. 175-7 [another impression illustrated].)