Rinaldo and Armida
Artist: Attributed to Gregorio Lazzarini (Italian, 1655-1730)
Date: c. 1690
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Description
Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso.
In Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered, Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome. Armida has been sent to stop the Christians from completing their mission and is about to murder the sleeping soldier, but instead she falls in love. She creates an enchanted garden where she holds him a lovesick prisoner. Eventually Charles and Ubaldo, two of his fellow Crusaders, find him and hold a shield to his face, so he can see his image and remember who he is. Rinaldo barely can resist Armida's pleadings, but his comrades insist that he return to his Christian duties. At the close of the poem, when the pagans have lost the final battle, Rinaldo, remembering his promise to be her champion, prevents her from giving way to her suicidal impulses and offers to restore her to her lost throne. She gives in at this and like the other Saracen woman, Clorinda, earlier in the piece, becomes a Christian and his "handmaid".
