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Rinaldo and Armida in Armida's magic garden, eavesdropped by Carlo and Ubaldo
Historical Context
Rinaldo and Armida in Armida's Magic Garden, Eavesdropped by Carlo and Ubaldo, painted in 1751 and now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, depicts the moment from Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered when the two crusader knights sent to retrieve the enchanted Rinaldo discover him in the island garden with the sorceress — a scene of moral choice and epic rescue. This 1751 treatment belongs to Tiepolo's Würzburg period and its immediate aftermath, when he was at the absolute height of his powers; the small scale of 39 × 62 cm (compared to the monumental versions he executed at villa fresco level) places this among his most intimate and spontaneous mythological canvases. The subject of Armida's garden had been treated by Titian in the sixteenth century and by Carracci and Poussin in the seventeenth; Tiepolo's version participates in this long lineage while introducing the characteristic Rococo lightness that makes his enchanted landscapes shimmer with irresistible artificiality. The Gemäldegalerie Berlin holds this among its important Tiepolo works, alongside the larger compositions that demonstrate the full sweep of his narrative painting.
Technical Analysis
The enchanted garden scene is rendered with luminous palette and Rococo decorative sensibility.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the enchanted garden scene from Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered — Rinaldo and Armida eavesdropped by the knights Carlo and Ubaldo sent to rescue the bewitched crusader.
- ◆Look at the luminous palette and Rococo decorative sensibility in this 1751 Gemäldegalerie Berlin painting.
- ◆Observe Tiepolo extending the Venetian poesie tradition into the Rococo era through these enchanted garden compositions from Italian epic poetry.
