In1985, the Sulzer Library in Lincoln Square was the site of a great controversy over the interpretation of Virgil’s Aeneid on display in Chicago artist Irene Siegel’s mural for the walls of one of its public rooms. Some demanded it be painted over. Siegel stood by her work. In this short film, One Dark Wall, Northwestern Professor of Classics Francesca Tataranni tells the story, bringing out the mural’s striking interpretation of Dido, its interrogation of the idea of Beauty and the way it managed to animate intense local political tensions about immigration and more.
