Rinaldo and Armida in the Enchanted Garden

Creator Name

Jan Soens

Cultural Context

Flemish; Italian; European

Date

Creation: 16th century, 17th century, Renaissance

Source

Walters Art Museum

About the Work

Curationist Object Description

Predating the lush garden scenes of Rococo paintings, Jan Soens' Rinaldo and Armida in the Enchanted Garden, was painted during the late Renaissance. His subjects are from a 16th century epic poem. Rinaldo is a part of the Christian crusade to capture Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The sorceress Armida, who gazes at her own reflection, disarms him with her beauty. However, the use of beauty to charm a man was deemed immoral on the part of the woman. Thus Rinaldo's contemporaries, hidden in the distance, have come to free him.

Walters Art Museum Object Description

In 1581, the Italian poet Tarquinato Tasso published Gerusaleme Liberata (Jerusalem Liberated), an instantly popular epic poem based on one of the crusades by Christians to retake the Holy Land. It was written as a romantic fantasy, recounting Satan's efforts to create obstacles for the heroic Christian knights, particularly the noble Rinaldo. The beautiful sorceress Armida enticed Rinaldo to enter the lush garden of her castle. There she keeps him besotted with sensual pleasures. He holds her "crystal mirror" up to her face but declares that her worth and beauty are more perfectly "painted in my heart."The episode is treated by Soens as a tender moment, but in the poem it is clear that Rinaldo, "drunk with ease," has lost ...

Work details

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Title

Rinaldo and Armida in the Enchanted Garden

Creator

Jan Soens (link to bio), Painter

Jan Soens, male

Worktype

Painting & Drawing; paintings

Cultural Context

Flemish; Italian; European

Material

oil on panel

Dimensions

18 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (46.3 x 35.9 cm)

Technique

Oil painting; Painting

Language

Date

Creation: 16th century, 17th century, Renaissance

Creation: ca. 1581-1611 (Late Renaissance)

Provenance

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.; Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Style Period

Mannerism

Rights

CC0;

GNU Free Documentation License

Inscription

Location

Creation: Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Southern Europe, Europe

Source

Walters Art Museum

Subjects

Descriptive Topic: Vanity, Man, Woman, Garden, Bird, Dove, Sword, Knight, Mirror, European people, Crusader, Armida, Christian, Seduction, Reflection, People;
Personal Name: Jerusalem Delivered, Rinaldo

Topic

Curationist Contributors

Emily Benoff; Amanda Acosta

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