This decorative canvas is one in a series of four, which alongside larger narrative paintings (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and The Art Institute, Chicago) once graced a ‘cabinet of mirrors’ in the Venetian palace of the powerful Cornaro family. The theme of the room was based on Torquato Tasso’s epic poem 'Jerusalem Delivered' (1581). Three of the paintings in the collection (NG6302, NG6303 and NG6304) are documented through etchings (in reverse) by Domenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo as the work of their father.
In this panel two men in oriental costume are shown in a landscape which includes a shield. This may refer to the episode in Tasso's 'Jerusalem Delivered' (16, 30), represented in Rinaldo turning in Shame from the Magic Shield.
