Angelica and Ruggiero
Maker
Cecco Bravo
(Italian (Florentine), 1607 - 1661)
Datecirca 1640
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsStretcher?: 12 3/4 x 17 1/2 in. (32.4 x 44.5 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (47.6 x 59.7 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (47.6 x 59.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Object number1973.42
Status
Not on viewThe subject of this charming cabinet picture comes from an episode of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a chivalric romance written in the early sixteenth century. In this scene, the princess Angelica has just been rescued from the monstrous Orca by Ruggiero, who anticipates a reward of a thousand kisses for his bravery. Amidst his hasty undress, he has failed to notice that that the object of his desire has already swallowed a magic ring that will allow her to vanish in the next moment. Angelica, whose pose is that of the classical “Crouching Venus” or Venus of Doidalas, displays her unadorned hand to the viewer as a signal of her imminent departure. In this moment when Angelica’s disappearance is at hand, she represents a “symbol of the elusiveness of things desired.” Paintings such as this both flattered and captivated literate viewers of the period, allowing them to continue the narrative in their own imaginations.
Smart Publications:
The Theatrical Baroque
The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art
The Place of the Antique in Early Modern Europe
Antonio Gentili (also called Antonio Gentili da Faenza)
circa 1550, with 17th - century and later? reworkings
