Anthony van Dyck, 'Rinaldo and Armida', 1634-5
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.
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
- 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
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2016Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van DyckThe National Gallery (London)23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
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2017Monochrome: Painting in Black and WhiteThe National Gallery (London)30 October 2017 - 18 February 2018
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2017Monochrome: Painting in Black and White.Museum Kunstpalast22 March 2018 - 15 July 2018
Bibliography
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1835S. 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
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1844A.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
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1854G.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
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1857C. Blanc, Le trésor de la curiosité, 2 vols, Paris 1857
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1900L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
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1931G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
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1932J. Denucé, The Antwerp Art-Galleries: Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Antwerp 1932
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1947E.K. Waterhouse, 'The Exhibition of Pictures from Althorp at Messrs. Agnew's', The Burlington Magazine, 1947
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1950L. van Puyvelde, Van Dyck, Brussels 1950
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1950W.R. Valentiner, 'Rinaldo and Armida by van Dyck', Quarterly: Los Angeles County Museum, 1950, pp. 8-10
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1954G. Gepts, 'Tafereelmaker Michiel Vriendt, leverancier van Rubens', Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1954, pp. 83ff
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1956H. Vey, 'Anton van Dycks Ölskizzen', Bulletin: Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten, 3-4, September 1956, pp. 167-208
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1959J.G. van Gelder, 'Anthonie van Dyck in Holland in de zeventiende eeuw', Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1959
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1963R.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
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1970G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
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1982C. Brown, Van Dyck, Oxford 1982
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1986Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
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1987C. Brown, The National Gallery Schools of Painting: Flemish Paintings, London 1987
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1988E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
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1990J. 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
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1990J. Held, 'Van Dyck's Oil Sketches', in A.K. Wheelock et al., Anthony Van Dyck, Washington 1990
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1994A. Balis, 'Van Dyck: Some Problems of Attribution', in S. Barnes and A. Wheelock (eds), Van Dyck 350, Washington 1994, pp. 175-96
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1994J. Spicer, 'Anthony van Dyck's Iconography: An Overview of Its Preparation', Studies in the History of Art, 1994, pp. 326-64
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1999G. Luijten and C. Depauw, Anthony van Dyck as a Printmaker, Amsterdam 1999-2000
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1999A. Roy, 'The National Gallery van Dycks: Technique and Development', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 50‑83
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1999R. White, 'Van Dyck's Paint Medium', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 84-8
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002E. Duverger, Antwerpse Kunstinventarissen uit de Zeventiende Eeuw: 1690-1699, vol. 12, Brussel 2002
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2004H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
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2007J. 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
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2016A. Robbins, Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London), London 2016
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2017L. 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.
Images
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