Ceiling Design with Rinaldo and Armida, Palazzo Milzetti, Faenza
1804â05
Classification
interiors
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of various donors
Accession Number
1901-39-230
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Behold the enchanting *Ceiling Design with Rinaldo and Armida by Felice Giani (1758–1823), a masterful Italian artist of the Neoclassical era. Created around 1804–05 for the opulent Palazzo Milzetti Faenza, this interior decoration draws from Torquato Tasso's epic poem *Gerusalemmeata*. It captures the mythical moment when the warrior Rinaldo falls under the spell of the sorceressida, blending romance, drama, and heroism in a lavish ceiling scheme that would have dazzled 19th-century visitors. Giani, a virtuoso of decorative painting influenced by antiquity and contemporaries like Piranesi, e...