Rinaldo and Armida

1683·Pen and brown ink, on buff laid paper, laid down on cream wove paper·15 × 19.1 cm (5 15/16 × 7 9/16 in.)

<p>This delightful sheet depicts the story of Rinaldo and Armida as told in the 14th canto of Tasso's <em> Gerusalemme Liberata. </em> Armida is shown holding the dagger at the moment when the sweetness of Rinaldo's face arrests her in her murderous scheme and seduces her to become his lover.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1683
Medium: Pen and brown ink, on buff laid paper, laid down on cream wove paper
Dimensions: 15 × 19.1 cm (5 15/16 × 7 9/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Donato Creti

Artist

Donato Creti

Painting

Donato Creti was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, active mostly in Bologna, Papal States. He is described by Wittkower as the "Bolognese Marco Benefial", in that his style was less decorative and edged into a more formal neoclassical style. It is an academicized grand style that crystallizes into a manneristic neoclassicism, with crisp and frigid modeling of the figures. Among his followers were Aureliano Milani, Francesco Monti, and Ercole Graziani the Younger. Two other pupils were Domenico Maria Fratta and Giuseppe Peroni.

Cremona, Italy

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