Rinaldo and Armida
Artist: Anthony van Dyck (Belgian, 1599 - 1641)
Original Dimensions: 22 1/2" x 16 3/8"
Location: National Gallery of Art, London
About Artwork: (1634-5) "The enchantress Armida and her bewitched lover, Rinaldo, a Christian knight, recline in a beautiful landscape, surrounded by attendant cupids. The scene shows a tender moment between the couple before Rinaldo’s comrades, whose helmets are visible behind the bush on the left, disturb their idyll and compel Rinaldo to return to fighting in the First Crusade (a Christian military campaign to recapture Jerusalem from Islamic rule). This is an episode from Torquato Tasso’s epic tale of bewitching and love, La Gerusalemme liberate (1581), which was popular during the seventeenth century (an English translation, Jerusalem Delivered, was published in 1600). Another painting of the subject by Van Dyck (thought to be the picture now at the Baltimore Museum of Art) was acquired by King Charles I." - (National Gallery of Art, London)

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