Delivered by Torquato Tasso: a beautiful Muslim princess, extremely gifted in the art of magic, is sent by her uncle to the Christian army, with the task of distracting the soldiers with her cunning and seduction. Falling hopelessly in love with the crusader, Rinaldo, Armida abducts him. Carlo and Ubaldo, companions of Rinaldo, find the young man and convince him to return to his army. The abandoned Armida falls into despair and fury. She climbs to the top of the mountain, calls to her all the spirits of hell and then leaves to join the Egyptian ranks in order to get revenge. This is the image chosen for the painting by Cecco Bravo, where the bold sensuality of the young woman is accentuated by the transparencies of her clothing and by the pearls and ribbons she wears. The regular profile of her face is like that of an antique cameo, emphasised by full lips, eyes looking off into the horizon, and the arm lifting the magical sceptre. An astonishing variety of animals surround her: dragons, serpents and demons from the circles of Hell as described by Tasso.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rosecarmine