#Gerusalemme liberata by Tasso

[wolfie-wolfgang]

Going to Naples and Sorrento - on an Italian opera trail.

Watching Mount Vesuvius from Sorrento, across the Bay of Naples, I thought of Pliny the Younger (born 61 AD), as you do, who wrote a detailed description of the catastrophic eruption of the volcano (79 AD) that killed his uncle, the great Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, who sailed into the disaster because he was interested in the science of volcanoes. Pliny the younger watched the destruction…

[machiavelli]

[hercorrupterofwords]

clorinda my beloved

[artemlegere]

Rinaldo and Armida

Artist: Antonio Zucchi, RA (Italian, 1726-1796)

Date: 1773

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, United Kingdom

Description

A classical scene from Tasso, II Canto 17 – 20, with lovers under a tree and two soldiers behind them, the reflective mirror has been casted aside. In the background are the two Danish Knights, who are about to persuade Rinaldo to quit Armida. One of a set of six over-door paintings by Antonio Zucchi, previously, erroneously, attributed to Angelica Kauffman.

A scene from Torquato Tasso's epic poem, Gerusalemme liberata (1581) and inspired by Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. The sorceress Armida has been sent to stop the Christians and is about to murder the First Crusade soldier, Rinaldo, but instead she falls in love. She creates an enchanted garden where she holds him a lovesick prisoner. Eventually two of his fellow Crusaders find him and hold a shield to his face, so he can see his image and remember who he is.

[indigogh0st]

Work in progress of the death of Clorinda, from Jerusalem Delivered. I’m not that fond of my previous version ahaha

[tragediambulante]

Erminia discovering the wounded Tancred, Guercino, 1618

[eresia-catara]

allora io nel 2021-22 mi appassiono a guido. esce dante 2022.

mi appassiono a machiavelli e quel periodo lì. esce la serie Leonardo.

a natale ricevo le operette morali di Leopardi. esce Leopardi il poeta dell'infinito.

inizio a leggere il conte di montecristo e

??????

AM I CURSED OR WHAG

[swallowtail-ageha]

He was a Gerusalemme Liberata boy and she was an Orlando Furioso girl, do i need to say more?

[kalymma]

[…] Vede Tancredi in maggior copia il sangue del suo nemico, e sé non tanto offeso. Ne gode e superbisce. Oh nostra folle mente ch’ogn’aura di fortuna estolle!

Misero, di che godi? Oh quanto mesti fiano i trionfi ed infelice il vanto! Gli occhi tuoi pagheran (se in vita resti) di quel sangue ogni stilla un mar di pianto. […]

Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, XII, 58-59 (1581)

[rushingcrimson]

Faith.

If you don’t mind sticking around for a bit I’ll explain something about this piece!

This is heavily inspired by a beautiful and important piece of Italian literature, the “Gerusalemme Liberata” (Freed Jerusalem), an epic poem by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), in which is depicted the war between Christians and Muslims and the Siege of Jerusalem of 1099 A.C.

In this poem there are two characters, not protagonists, but important to the plot nonetheless: Tancredi and Clorinda. Tancredi is a paladin and champion of the Christian army, while Clorinda is a virago, a female warrior and champion of the Muslim army.

She’s described as a beautiful woman with blonde hair and fair skin (which is pretty unusual, since she’s supposed to be an Ethiopian princess, but her mother was a Christian and supposedly prayed the Virgin Mary while she was expecting her), valiant and strong. She’s pretty recognisable amongst the other Muslim soldiers because of her beautiful white armour and her helmet, in the shape of a tiger’s muzzle and a white plume.

Tancredi and Clorinda fall in love, and it’s impossible, sweet and violent; they can’t be together (for obvious reasons).

In the end, Tancredi ends up killing Clorinda in a duel, after not recognising her, and the two share a moment while Clorinda is dying, where she asks him to baptise her.

Their story ends bittersweetly and even though Tancredi is hurt by the loss of his loved one, he’s comforted by the fact that now Clorinda is waiting for him on the other side.

Nico as Clorinda is something that in my mind made sense, paired to Lewis as Tancredi, so I made this portrait!

I encourage anyone who’s reading this (even if you can’t understand Italian, you can look for some articles in English, and if you can't find any reach out to me and I’ll explain) to go read something about this poem.

Thank you for bearing with me ! I hope you enjoyed my explanation <3

[hercorrupterofwords]

Il modo in cui Tasso ha letteralmente saccheggiato questo poema

[artemlegere]

Rinaldo and Armida

Artist: Angelica Kauffmann (Swiss, 1741–1807)

Date: 1771

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, United States

Description

The story of Rinaldo and Armida is taken from Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata (1580), an account of the First Crusade and the capture in 1099 of the holy city of Jerusalem. The poem was known in England within a few years of its publication but enjoyed renewed popularity in the mid-eighteenth century. Rinaldo is a handsome prince and Armida a beautiful sorceress sent by the devil to disrupt the Crusade. She bewitches Rinaldo but, despite her evil intent, falls in love and brings him to her enchanted palace on the Fortunate Isle. The lovers are finally discovered by some of Rinaldo's companions in arms, who recall him to his Christian duty.

[valentina-lauricella]

L'insostenibile peso dell'assenza

nel valore intrinseco della parte

rispetto al tutto e al possibile.

Emilio Isgrò, Virgola tratta dalla « Gerusalemme liberata » di Torquato Tasso, 1972 [Archivio di Nuova Scrittura, Museion, Bolzano-Bozen. Beni culturali in Alto Adige, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige. © Emilio Isgrò. Photo: Ludwig Thalheimer / Lupe]

[apis-vergilii]

[speed-reading Gerusalemme liberata in between supposed adult obligations to make sure I get the Tasso character vaguely right in my deranged @italian-lit-tournament losers fanfic. How’s YOUR Thursday?]

[tragediambulante]

Rinaldo and Armida, Nicolas Poussin, 1628-30

[hildegardavon]

Pietro Ricchi called il Lucchese, 1606-1675

Wounded Tancred, nursed by Erminia (Scene from Torquato Tasso, 1544-1595: La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem relieved), n/d, oil on canvas, 121x180.5 cm

Residenzgalerie Salzburg, Austria Inv. 308

* This scene is from the Erminia episode (Canto 19, 103–114), a subplot in Torquato Tasso’s "La Gerusalemme liberata". Erminia’s bridled horse in the background shadow bespeaks her haste when she sees Tancred wounded in combat with Argante: “… And when she saw indeed the form so dear/ pale, and wrapt round as with the winding-sheet of death/she stept not, — no, she darted from her seat!” Sword and helmet in the lower right-hand corner are also as Tasso describes: “… he stripped him of his arms...” – here Vafrino is supporting Tancred. (Residenzgalerie)