Paul-Joseph Blanc: The Deliverance - Ruggiero and Angelica (1876)

(Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France)

The subject of this painting is a scene from Orlando furioso, an Italian epic poem  by Ludovico Ariosto from 1516. In this scene, Angelica - daughter of the king of Cathay (China) - is captured and chained to a rock in the sea, to be offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster. fortunatly the African knight Ruggiero comes to her rescue and manages to defeat the beast. Painting from 1876.