Anthony van Dyck, 'Rinaldo and Armida', 1634-5

Rinaldo and Armida

Anthony van Dyck

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The enchantress Armida and her bewitched lover, Rinaldo, a Christian knight, recline in a beautiful landscape, surrounded by attendant cupids. The scene shows a tender moment between the couple before Rinaldo’s comrades, whose helmets are visible behind the bush on the left, disturb their idyll and compel Rinaldo to return to fighting in the First Crusade (a Christian military campaign to recapture Jerusalem from Islamic rule).

This is an episode from Torquato Tasso’s epic tale of bewitching and love, La Gerusalemme liberate (1581), which was popular during the seventeenth century (an English translation, Jerusalem Delivered, was published in 1600). Another painting of the subject by Van Dyck (thought to be the picture now at the Baltimore Museum of Art) was acquired by King Charles I.

In-depth

The enchantress Armida and her bewitched lover, Rinaldo, a Christian knight, recline in a beautiful landscape, surrounded by attendant cupids and luxury goods. The scene shows a tender moment: from his position on her lap, Rinaldo looks up adoringly at Armida, who tends to her long golden hair and glances toward an upheld mirror.

The lovers' idyll is about to be disturbed. Armida’s mirror will soon reflect two advancing intruders, whose Spanish-style helmets are just visible behind the bush on the left. These are Rinaldo’s comrades, Carlo and Ubaldo, who compel him to return to fighting in the First Crusade (a Christian military campaign to recapture Jerusalem from Islamic rule).

This is an episode from Torquato Tasso’s epic La Gerusalemme liberate (1581), which, through Edward Fairfax’s English translation (Jerusalem Delivered, 1600), was particularly popular during the early seventeenth century. The tale of bewitchment and love on a ‘Fortunate Isle’ captured the imagination of the English royal court, and a large painting of an earlier episode of the story by Anthony van Dyck (thought to be the picture now at the Baltimore Museum of Art) was acquired by King Charles I.

The present picture is a reduced grisaille copy of a painting now in the Louvre, Paris. It has been suggested that the squared-up, grey, yellow and greenish grisaille might be a preparatory study for the finished painting, but it is more likely to be a model for the subsequent engraving of it produced by Pieter de Jode (1644), which is of exactly the same dimensions. Indeed, this copy and the engraving show more of the landscape at the top and bottom of the composition than the Louvre painting, suggesting that it has at some stage been cut down.

It is most likely that this copy was made from the original painting while it was in Van Dyck’s workshop in Antwerp, or possibly from another copy soon after. It then apparently remained unused until it became the basis for the 1644 print. Several documentary references suggest that there existed another oil sketch of the subject of the story of Rinaldo and Armida, now lost.

The painting was once owned by the leading portrait painter of Regency London and fourth President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830).

Key facts

Details

Full title: Rinaldo and Armida
Artist: Anthony van Dyck
Artist dates: 1599 - 1641
Date made: 1634-5
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 57 × 41.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1871
Inventory number: NG877.2
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Sir Thomas Lawrence

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt

Samuel Woodburn
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame

Provenance

Coll. Jan‐Baptista Anthoine († 1687), Antwerp; probably inherited by one of his two sons, Louis or Jan‐Baptista. Perhaps Mme. Lenglier (†) sale, Paris, 10 ff. March, 1788 (102) sold for 62 livres. Coll. Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830); exh. The Lawrence Gallery. 2nd Exhibition. . . 209, Regent St. [ = S. & A. Woodburn], 1835 (21); sold by Woodburn to Sir Robert Peel, Bt., 13 December, 1837; purchased with the Peel collection, 1871.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Gregory Martin, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School: circa 1600–circa 1900’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2016

Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck

The National Gallery (London)

23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
2017

Monochrome: Painting in Black and White

The National Gallery (London)

30 October 2017 - 18 February 2018
2017

Monochrome: Painting in Black and White.

Museum Kunstpalast

22 March 2018 - 15 July 2018

Bibliography

1835

S. Woodburn, The Lawrence Gallery, Second Exhibition: A Catalogue of One Hundred Original Drawings by Sir Ant. Vandyke and Rembrandt Van Ryn, Collected by Sir Thomas Lawrence […], London 1835
1844

A.M. Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically, for Immediate Reference, Each Preceded by an Historical & Critical Introduction […], London 1844
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1857

C. Blanc, Le trésor de la curiosité, 2 vols, Paris 1857
1900

L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
1931

G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
1932

J. Denucé, The Antwerp Art-Galleries: Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Antwerp 1932
1947

E.K. Waterhouse, 'The Exhibition of Pictures from Althorp at Messrs. Agnew's', The Burlington Magazine, 1947
1950

L. van Puyvelde, Van Dyck, Brussels 1950
1950

W.R. Valentiner, 'Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck', Quarterly: Los Angeles County Museum, 1950, pp. 8-10
1954

G. Gepts, 'Tafereelmaker Michiel Vriendt, leverancier van Rubens', Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1954, pp. 83ff
1956

H. Vey, 'Anton van Dycks Ölskizzen', Bulletin: Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten, 3-4, September 1956, pp. 167-208
1959

J.G. van Gelder, 'Anthonie van Dyck in Holland in de zeventiende eeuw', Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1959
1963

R.W. Lee, 'Van Dyck, Tasso and the Antique', in Studies in Western Art, Acts of the Twentieth International Congress of the History of Art - Latin American Art, and the Baroque Period in Europe, Princeton 1963, pp. 12-26
1970

G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
1982

C. Brown, Van Dyck, Oxford 1982
1986

Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
1987

C. Brown, The National Gallery Schools of Painting: Flemish Paintings, London 1987
1988

E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
1990

J. van Damme, 'De Antwerpse tafereelmakers en hun merken: Identificatie en betekenis', Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen, XIX, 1990, pp. 193-236
1990

J. Held, 'Van Dyck's Oil Sketches', in A.K. Wheelock et al., Anthony Van Dyck, Washington 1990
1994

A. Balis, 'Van Dyck: Some Problems of Attribution', in S. Barnes and A. Wheelock (eds), Van Dyck 350, Washington 1994, pp. 175-96
1994

J. Spicer, 'Anthony van Dyck's Iconography: An Overview of Its Preparation', Studies in the History of Art, 1994, pp. 326-64
1999

G. Luijten and C. Depauw, Anthony van Dyck as a Printmaker, Amsterdam 1999-2000
1999

A. Roy, 'The National Gallery van Dycks: Technique and Development', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 50‑83
1999

R. White, 'Van Dyck's Paint Medium', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 84-8
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

E. Duverger, Antwerpse Kunstinventarissen uit de Zeventiende Eeuw: 1690-1699, vol. 12, Brussel 2002
2004

H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
2007

J. Letzter, 'Rubens in America: The Role of an Exiled Art Collection in the Creation of a Belgian Cultural Consciousness (1794-1816)', in R. Panzanelli and M. Preti-Hamard (eds), La circulation des œuvres d'art = The Circulation of Works of Art in the Revolutionary Era, 1789-1848, Rennes 2007, pp. 99-116
2016

A. Robbins, Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London), London 2016
2017

L. Packer and J. Sliwka, Monochrome: Painting in Black and White (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London; Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf), London 2017

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 23 works

Anthony van Dyck, 'Rinaldo and Armida', 1634-5

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Anthony van Dyck