Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo (c. 1742–45): Artwork and History

Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo (c. 1742–45) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This painting likely once graced a large hall at the Palazzo Corner in Venice along with several others. The suite illustrates the ill-fated love of Armida and Rinaldo from Torquato Tasso’s 1581 epic poem Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered). The story takes place during the First Crusade, an eleventh-century military expedition in which Christian knights attempted to seize control of Jerusalem and check the power of the Muslims who ruled the city. In this scene, the beautiful sorceress Armida encounters the knight Rinaldo as he sleeps and decides to carry him away on her cloud-borne chariot. When Rinaldo wakes, he immediately falls for Armida and forgets his quest in Jerusalem. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted a vast, open expanse of sky and scenery and elaborately arranged the figures, draperies, clouds, and trees to animate the composition. Although Tasso’s story symbolizes the conflict between love and duty, Tiepolo’s depiction of a magical world—enhanced by effervescent colors and dense, creamy paint—seems to evoke only love’s enchantment. Tiepolo’s paintings combine virtuosic draftsmanship with seemingly spontaneous execution, a formula perfectly suited to the large-scale works that he created to decorate palaces and churches throughout Italy, Germany, and Spain.

Object facts

• Title: Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo
• Date: c. 1742–45
• Artist attribution: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770)
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 187.5 × 216.8 cm (73 13/16 × 85 3/8 in.); Framed: 194.8 × 223.5 × 8.3 cm (76 1/2 × 88 × 3 1/4 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1925.700

Collection credit

Bequest of James Deering

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