Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo (1742)

(Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA)

A painting by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770). This painting shows a scene from the book 'Jerusalem Delivered' by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso (first published in 1581). The book is set in the eleventh century, during the First Crusade. The painting shows the beautiful sorceress Armida who has just arrived to divert the sleeping hero Rinaldo from his crusade. Armida abducts Rinaldo in her chariot. She intends to kill him but she falls in love with him instead and takes him away to a magical island where he becomes infatuated with her and forgets the crusade. Two close companions of Rinaldo, Carlo and Ubaldo, manage to save Rinaldo. Painting from 1742.