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Rinaldo and Armida

Maker

(artist)
1550-1606

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1594-1665

Title

Rinaldo and Armida

Date of Production

1581 - 1606

Medium

chalk (red), pen and ink (brown), wash (brown) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 15 cm
Width: 21.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1517

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Bathing beauties

Notes

In Torquato Tasso's poem Gerusalemme Liberata (1591), the wicked sorceress Armida vowed to capture and torture Christian knight Rinaldo, who had freed a group of knights she had imprisoned. Armida conjured up a beautiful singing nymph, seen on the right, who lulled Rinaldo into a deep sleep. When she saw him, Armida fell in love with Rinaldo and is shown here soothing his brow.

Provenance

probably commissioned by Luca Fei, Filottrano (inventory 1611); Gerard Reynst, Amsterdam (1599-1658); Charles Rogers, London (1711-1784), L.624; his sale, T. Philipe (London), 15 April 1799, part of lot 83; H.E. Morritt; his sale, Sotheby's (London), 22 March 1923, lot 84 (as 'Fauns and nymphs in a landscape' by Poussin); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (£6.5); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Graceful and True - Drawing in Florence around 1600, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 14/10/2003-18/01/2004; Colnaghi, London, 26/01/2004-02/03/2004; Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, 12/03/2004-09/05/2004

A Selection of Drawings from The Witt/Courtauld Collections, University of Sussex, Falmer, 1964 ...More

Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1958-59 ...Less

Literature

Goldman, Jean, Strokes of Genius: Italian drawings from the Goldman Collection, Chicago, 2014
p. 115
Illus. on p. 115, fig. 1

Graceful and True - Drawing in Florence around 1600, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; P & D Colnaghi, London; Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, 2003-2004, 2003-04
cat. no. 19
repr.

Elena Fumagalli, Massimiliano Rossi, Riccardo Spinelli, et al., Florence, 2001, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, L’arme e gli amori, La poesi di Ariosto, Tasso e Guarini nell’arte fiorentina del Seicento, Florence, 2001 ...More

Brooks, Julian, ‘Andrea Boscoli’s ‘Loves Gerusalemme Liberata’’, Master Drawings, XXXVIII, no.4, 2000, 2000

Brooks, Julian, The drawings of Andrea Boscoli (c.1560–1608), PhD thesis, University of Oxford 1999; 1
no. 204 and p. 347

Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1958 - 1959
cat. no. 17

Voss, Hermann, Zeichnungen der italienischen Spätrenaissance, Munich 1928
plate 29
repr.
no text on image ...Less

Inscriptions

Collector's mark: collector's mark of Charles Roger (L.624)

Inscription: None now visible, but according to Troutman’s notes, the following were present: Verso of drawing over remains of a former mount: “Rinaldo and Armida. The / incident represented is from / Tasso Gerusalemme / BRILL, PAUL B 1556 at Antwerp / D 1626 at Rome / Flemish” and on the Witt Mount (now removed): “Angelica + Medor / Ariosto Orlando Furioso C XIX / 20H”.

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