Rinaldo and Armida

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Rinaldo and Armida: Francois Boucher

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Francois Boucher Oil Painting - Rinaldo and Armida

Keywords: Rinaldo, Armida

Work Overview: Rinaldo and Armida
Francois Boucher
Date: 1734
Style: Rococo
Genre: literary painting
Oil on canvas
135,5 x 170,5 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The subject was inspired by the 16th-century epic poem 'Gerusalemme Liberata' (Jerusalem Delivered) by Torquato Tasso (1544-95). Rinaldo and Armida are a pair of lovers in the poem which is an idealized account of the first Crusade which ended with the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and the establishment of a Christian kingdom. Armida, a beautiful virgin witch, had been sent by Satan (whose aid the Saracens had enlisted0 to bring about the Crusaders' undoing by sorcery. She sought revenge on the Christian prince Rinaldo after he had rescued his companions whom she had changed into monsters. The pastoral story of hate turned of love, of the lovers' dalliance in Armida's magic kingdom, and Rinaldo's final desertion of her, forms a sequence of themes that were widely popular with Italian and French artists in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The artist was admitted to the Academy by presenting this painting.

The artist's 1734 admission piece for the Academy, this painting is inspired by Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, a romantic poem of the First Crusade. Armida holds Rinaldo captive in her enchanted palace. Arriving to rescue their companion are Carlo and Ubaldo: hidden at right, they surprise him love-stricken at the feet of the enchantress.
The moment of love
Boucher chose the moment when Rinaldo's two friends - visible at the right between two columns of the ruined temple - find him still in his armor but captivated by Armida's beauty. At right, Cupid aims an arrow at Rinaldo, evoking the ties of love that now bind the young crusader to the enchantress Armida.
Under a spell
The story recounted in this painting is taken from an episode in Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, first published in 1581. On his way to Jerusalem the crusader Rinaldo is seduced by the young Saracen Armida, who is vexed at having conquered the hearts of all the crusaders except one: Rinaldo. By means of a spell she finally succeeds in ensnaring him, and thereafter keeps him prisoner of her charms. But Armida is then torn between the genuine love she feels for the young man and her fury at having to resort to spells. Two of Rinaldo's friends, Carlo and Ubaldo, make a rescue attempt. The ruined architecture, which serves as the setting, represents the enchanted palace where Armida keeps Rinaldo captive.
An admission piece
This painting is Boucher's 1734 admission piece for the Royal Academy. The work remained in the Academy collections throughout the 18th century and eventually entered the Muséum Central des Arts de la République, which would later become the Louvre.

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Francois Boucher

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