# The Liberation of Arsinoe [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [TINTORETTO, Jacopo]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 153 x 251 cm ## Commentary The Liberation of Arsinoe c. 1556 Oil on canvas, 153 x 251 cm Gemäldegalerie, Dresden The Egyptian Princess Arsinoe is freed from her prison on Pharos to lead a rebellion against Caesar. Tintoretto moves the scene of the action from Alexandria to the Venetian lagoon, and lends satirical elements to this cloak-and-dagger story: the gondola in which the escape is made has a carved mask of a satyr at the bows, the noble knight is losing his balance as he indulges in a kiss that might be out of a movie. Tintoretto has replaced the rope mentioned in the textual source of the story by a rope ladder. As the small still-life of weapons in the gondola suggests, the knight has shot an arrow carrying a thin thread in through the tower window, so that Arsinoe and her companion could pull up the rope ladder fastened to the thread. ## Related artworks - [A Philosopher \(detail\)]() - [A Philosopher]() - [Allegory of Faith]() - [Allegory of Fortune \(Felicità\)]() - [Allegory of Generosity]() - [Allegory of Goodness]() - [Allegory of Happiness]() - [Allegory of the Scuola della Carità]() - [Allegory of the Scuola della Misericordia]() - [Allegory of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista]() - [Allegory of the Scuola di San Marco]() - [Allegory of the Scuola di San Teodoro]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()