Girolamo Troppa
ART
Girolamo Troppa - Rinaldo and Armida
Girolamo Troppa
Rocchette in Sabina 1636 (RI) – Terni 1711
Rinaldo and Armida
Oil on canvas, 92 x 68 cm
The painting illustrates the famous episode of love taken from the famous chivalrous poem of the Renaissance, the “Gerusalemme Liberata” by Torquato Tasso (canto XVI).
In the painting the sorceress Armida, according to the classical iconography on the theme, holds with her right a mirror on which she observes together with the paladin Rinaldo, subdued by her, their reflected images, while a flying cupid scatters roses and two others approach the lovers bringing flowers. Other erotes play with a cart by the bank of a river, among hills, woods, glades and mountains in the distance. Behind the tree a soldier witnesses the scene.
As confirmed by the stylistic examination, the paintings are certain work of Girolamo Troppo. The sculptural drapery with wide and sinuous folds, the typology of the figures and the wide and solemn country view, which revisits the classic landscape of the tradition of the carraccesca, are typical motifs of his language.
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.
