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Lorenzo Lippi , Italian, 1606-1665

Title

Angelica and Medoro

Datec.1632-1634

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

173 x 238 cm

Credit LineMilltown Gift, 1902

Object numberNGI.1747

DescriptionThis is a literary subject taken from Ludovico Ariosto's poem, Orlando Furioso. The female protagonist, Angelica, was the daughter of the king of Cathay. During her fight from the Christian camp, where the sorcery of her beauty bewildered the knights of Charlemagne, she met a young Moor, Medoro, injured from battle. Angelica decided to take care of him by treating his wounds with special herbs but, unexpectedly, as she tended to him, she fell in love. This poetic and romantic episode is elegantly illustrated at the moment when Cupid is ready to instigate their love affair by striking the couple with his arrow.

Lippi was one of the leading Florentine artists during the first half of the 17th century. The clarity of his pictorial images, which he inherited from Santi di Tito, made him the favourite painter of a sophisticated circle of private patrons, eager for intellectual compositions of theatrical and philosophical inspiration.

(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)

Provenance(?)Marchese Mattias Maria Bortolommei, Florence; Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, by 1826; Milltown Gift, 1902 Exhibition HistoryTesori segreti delle case fiorentini, Florence, 1960

Painting in Florence 1600-1700, Royal Academy, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1979

Riosto, Tasso and Marino in the 17th Century Florentine Painting, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 21 June - 28 October 2001

Label TextThe subject of this painting is taken from the epic poem Orlando Furioso (1532) by Ludovico Ariosto. Medoro, a Muslim soldier, was injured in battle during a war between Christians and Muslims in the ninth century. He was healed by Angelica, a pagan princess, who applied medicinal herbs to his wounds. Lippi painted the moment before Angelica and Medoro fell in love, with Cupid poised to strike them with his arrow. A Florentine artist and poet, Lippi often painted pictures with literary or poetic subjects, always attempting to remain faithful to the texts.