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Michele Rocca, called Michele da Parma (Parma circa 1666 - Venice (?) circa 1751)

Rinaldo and Armida

Details

Michele Rocca, called Michele da Parma (Parma circa 1666 - Venice (?) circa 1751)
Rinaldo and Armida
oil on canvas
52.6 x 67.5 cm.

Provenance

E. Gutmann, Berlin.
F.B.E. Gutmann, Heemstede.
with J.W. Böhler, Munich, 1942.
with K. Haberstock, Berlin, 1942.
Taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point, whence moved to the Netherlands, between 1946 and 1951.
The Instituut Collectie Nederland (earlier the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, no. NK3250, as J. Coypel) until restituted to Gutmann's heirs in 2002.

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 23.205% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €110,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €110,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 23.205% of the first €110,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €110,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Sale room notice

We are grateful to Professor Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original; Professor Sestieri will include the picture in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artists work.

Lot Essay

The subject is taken from Gerusalemme Liberata (16:17-23), Torquato Tasso's 1574 romance of the First Crusade. Armida, a beautiful witch, in trying to bring about the Crusaders' undoing, sought revenge on the Christian Prince, Rinaldo, who had previously confounded one of her plots. In abducting Rinaldo, however, Armida fell in love with him and took him to her island, the Fortunate Isle, where, waking, he too fell in love. The present scene depicts the two lovers in her garden: gazing at his own reflection in his mistress' eyes, Rinaldo at the same time holds a mirror to her face. Behind them are two of Rinaldo's companions, Carlo and Ubaldo, sent to recall the crusader from the sorceress.

Another treatment if the subject by Rocca is in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

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