Benjamin West (1738–1820)Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus, 1768Oil on canvas, 64 1/2 x 94 1/2 in. (163.8 x 240 cm)Gift of Louis M. Rabinowitz1947.16Based on a dramatic episode from Roman history, the scene shows the widowed Agrippina returning to Rome carrying the ashes of her assassinated husband, Germanicus.She is accompanied by her two young children, Caligula, the future emperor, and Agrippina the younger, who was to be the mother of the Emperor Nero. Agrippina hasplaced herself and her children in certain danger by returning to confront the Emperor Tiberius, who was widely believed to have instigated Germanicus's murder.Germanicus's popularity as a general, as well as his wife's legendary virtue, draws large crowds of sympathizers to greet her when she disembarks at Brundisium.Agrippina is one of the great monuments of neoclassicism, a style that emphasized linearity, subdued color, and uplifting classical and biblical themes. Portrayalsof moral behavior, such as Agrippina's dignity and courage, were meant to inspire similar virtues in viewers. Painted for the Archbishop of York, Agrippina led toKing George III's lifelong patronage of West, despite the Pennsylvania-born artist's frank American patriotism.