Armida Abandoned by Rinaldo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770)

c. 1742–45

Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
186.7 × 259.4 cm (73 1/2 × 102 1/8 in.); Framed: 195 × 270.5 × 9.5 cm (76 3/4 × 106 1/2 × 3 3/4 in.)
Culture
Italy
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line
Bequest of James Deering
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

The third scene from Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s four-part suite of decorations, this painting shows the emotional climax of the story. The knight Rinaldo has been persuaded by his companions, Carlo and Ubaldo, to renounce the love of the sorceress Armida. Bareheaded and pensive, Rinaldo has taken up his shield again and appears to hesitate as the older knights gesture toward the boat that will carry them back to the crusader army and Armida implores him to stay.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0