ÉNÉE AUX ENFERS. Horreur! il aperçoit la femme qui l'adore, Un poignard dans le cœur et les yeux pleins d'émoi; Qui d'un geste charmant que la pudeur décore, Lui dit: cher bien aimé, je me fiche de toi! (Eneïde trad. de M. Trognon.)

Trustman, Benjamin A., Trustman, Julia M. · 1842

Aeneas and Dido meet again in the underworld. He with shaky knees and she with the sword in her bosom. Daumier is most likely aiming at Berlioz' opera "The Trojans" which hasn't yet succeeded in bridging the gap between the classic romanticism and reality of the style of Offenbach. During the 1840's, a quarrel between painters of the classic and romantic schools had fully flared up. Delacroix asked the "loaded" question: "Who is going to liberate us from the old Greeks?" Daumier succeeded to answer it his own way by showing historic personalities such as Hercules, Pygmalion or Agamemnon in absurd situations.