Rinaldo turning in Shame from the Magic Shield

This painting shows Rinaldo, a Christian knight who has been enchanted by the Muslim sorceress Armida. Looking at his own reflection in a magic shield given to him by one of his companions breaks the spell, and they help Rinaldo escape.This scene is taken from an episode in Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, a romantic poem of the First Crusade, a Christian military campaign to recapture Jerusalem from Islamic rule. Rinaldo’s costume and armour is inspired by the classical world: the scallop shell at his waist was in antiquity the attribute of Venus, the goddess of love. A wispy tree completes the background and probably serves as decoration rather than to create the illusion of depth.Painted at the height of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s career, this is one of four panels that once decorated the Cornaro family’s villa in northern Italy. The other panels – Seated Man, Woman with Jar, and Boy, Two Men in Oriental Costume and Two Orientals Seated under a Tree – depict unidentifiable figures that were probably inspired by Tasso’s poem.