Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo
1742/45
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
187.5 × 216.8 cm (73 13/16 × 85 3/8 in.); Framed: 194.8 × 223.5 × 8.3 cm (76 1/2 × 88 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
16488
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's *Armida Encounters the Sleepinginaldo* (1742/45) captures a pivotal moment from Torquatoasso's epic poem *Jerusalem Delivered*. The sorceress Armida, sent to distract the Crusader knights, discovers the enchanted knight Rinaldo asleep amid a lush, dreamlike garden. Mesmerized by his beauty, she contemplates her forbidden love, a theme blending romance, magic, and moral tension that captivated 18th-century audiences. ed in oil on canvas at a grand 187.5 × 216.8 cm, this work exemplifies Tiepolo's mastery of Venetian Rococo. From his mature period in Venice, it showc...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · 1696–1770
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) stands as the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, a Venetian master whose luminous frescoes and dynamic compositions defined the Rococo era's aesthetic zenith. Born in Venice on March 5, 1696, to a modest shipping merchant family, Tiepolo's extraordinary talent transcended his humble origins to establish him as the most sought-after artis...