Erminia and the Shepherds
Italian (Bolognese) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1232 x 1689 mm (48 1/2 x 66 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129297
Caption
Erminia and the Shepherds illustrates a scene from one of the great epic poems in the Italian language, Jerusalem Delivered, by Torquato Tasso, published in 1581. Erminia, the daughter of a Saracen king, loved the Christian knight Tancred and, believing him to be wounded, set off to search for him. She was disguised in armour belonging to the female warrior, Clorinda. She chanced upon an old shepherd and his sons, who extolled to her the joys of his secluded, peaceful existence, in contrast to the savagery of war. The scene serves to extol the virtues of the pastoral life and became popular with baroque painters.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Erminia and the Shepherds, Italian (Bolognese) School, 17th century. The condition of this picture, with large areas of missing paint, is such that the subject has become almost unidentifiable. It appears to depict a soldier, dismounted from her horse on the right, Erminia, daughter of a Saracen king, in disguise of the armour of the female warrior Clorinda, approaching an old man, or shepherd, seated on the left in a landscape with small children, his sons.
Provenance
By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959
Makers and roles
Italian (Bolognese) School, artist