# Rinaldo and Armida [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [TIEPOLO, Giovanni Battista]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 105 x 143 cm ## Commentary Gerusalemme Liberata \(Jerusalem Liberated\), the great heroic epos by Torquato Tasso \(1544-1595\), published in 1581, not only inspired Tiepolo to create his series of paintings in the Tasso Hall of the Villa Valmerana near Vicenza, but also to create individual portrayals such as this one. The episode involving Armida and the hero Rinaldo is set in the days of the crusades. The enchantress Armida, resting after the rigours of battle, recognizes him as an enemy and is about to slay him. But at that moment, her hate turns to love and she bears him away to an enchanted island far from war, where Rinaldo is caught in the spell of her love. Two warriors sent to look for him make him aware of his error by holding up a shield as a mirror, reminding him of the battle, and take him back with them. Tiepolo's Armida is a magnificent Venus figure carrying a mirror as the instrument of her magical powers and accompanied by Amor as the bringer of love. The young hero rests devoted at her breast, wearing a garland of flowers as the sign of his entanglement. ## Related artworks - [A Seated Man and a Girl with a Pitcher]() - [Abraham and the Three Angels]() - [Abraham Praying before the Three Angels]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Aeneas Introducing Cupid Dressed as Ascanius to Dido \(detail\)]() - [Aeneas Introducing Cupid Dressed as Ascanius to Dido \(detail\)]() - [Aeneas Introducing Cupid Dressed as Ascanius to Dido]() - [Aeneas Introducing Cupid Dressed as Ascanius to Dido]() - [Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue]() - [Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()