The Vestal Claudia Towing the Ship Bearing the Statue of Cybele is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo) in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Italy.
Rome, stymied in its pursuit of outright victory, and assailed by poor harvests and other misfortunes, had sought the blessings of a new mother goddess (Cybele) by purchasing a venerable sculpture in Phrygia (Asia Minor).
However, as narrated in the Fasti by Ovid, the omens became nefarious when the ship porting the statue up the Tiber to Rome became grounded in a sandbar of the river.
Such classical conceits were common artistic subjects in the court of Ferrara of this period, where il Garofano worked.
At Claudia's feet two dogs represent loyalty, while a crowd of men watch in amazement at her miraculous feat.