2019 Essays

The "Gerusalemme Liberata" Cycle of Paolo Finoglio

Dolin, Daniel

The Neapolitan painter Paolo Finoglio (1590-1645) here depicts two figures from the third canto of Torquato Tasso’s epic poem on the First Crusade, La Gerusalemme liberata (1581): the Norman crusader, Tancred, and Clorinda, the Saracen warrior whom the knight has earlier encountered, by chance, resting by a riverside, only to become deeply enamored of her “beautiful, warlike image” (l’imagine sua bella e guerriera). When the crusaders later arrive at the gates of Jerusalem, the two riders again meet on the battlefield: striking with their lances at the visors of one another’s helmets (ferírsi a le visieri), shattering the wood of their weapons (e i tronchi in alto), the strap of Clorinda’s helmet is eventually severed (rotti i lacci a l’elmo suo) and falls to the ground, revealing her face to Tancred.