Girolamo Troppa
Rocchette in Sabina 1636 (RI) – Terni 1711
Angelica and Medoro
Oil on canvas, 92 x 68 cm
The painting illustrates the famous episode of love taken from the famous Renaissance chivalric poem “L’Orlando Furioso” by Ludovico Ariosto (canto XIX).
Angelica, princess of Catai , engraves her name and that of the beloved on the bark of a tree, while the Saracen soldier Medoro attends. A flying cupid is about to shoot an arrow at the lovers and two others approach; in the foreground a boat with two fishermen moves on a river, in a landscape marked by hills, a tower and mountains in the distance.
As the stylistic examination confirms, the painting is a certain work of Girolamo Troppo, who executed numerous compositions in which the human figure is harmoniously inserted in natural settings, showing his versatility as a talented landscape painter and skilled figure painter.
The painting, which presents a theme little used by the artist who preferred sacred subjects, must be placed in the period of maturity , between 1660 -85.