Angelica, and Medoro carving his Name on the Trunk of a Tree
Antonio Zucchi, RA (Venice 1726 - Rome 1796)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1773
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1010 x 860 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 960077.3
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Angelica, and Medoro carving his Name on the Trunk of a Tree, by Antonio Zucchi, RA (Venice 1726 – Rome 1796), 1773. Angelica and Medoro are two characters from the sixteenth-century Italian epic Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Angelica is a princess at the court of Charlemagne who fell in love with the knight Medoro, and eloped with him to China. Orlando is the main character of the poem but popular scenes in art show the love between Angelica and Medoro, Angelica nursing Medoro, and Angelica, usually, carving their names into a tree. It was Boiardo, rather, who has Medoro falling in love with Angelica. Here ANGELICA has already been written and he has got as far as MEI. One of a set of six overdoor paintings. Angelica is described at times as coming from Cathay, or China, and at other times is described as wishing she could return home to India. Medoro is described as a young 'Moor', probably meaning he is from North Africa.
Provenance
Commissioned from Antonio Zucchi by Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Bt (1739-1785); sent to Nostell Priory circa 1773; thence by descent; accepted in lieu of tax by HM Treasury and transferred to the National Trust in 1986.
Credit line
Nostell Priory, The St Oswald Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Antonio Zucchi, RA (Venice 1726 - Rome 1796), artist Thomas Chippendale (Otley 1718 - London 1779) , framemaker
References
Sands 2011: Frances Sands, 'The Art of Collaboration: Antonio Zucchi at Nostell Priory', The Georgian Group Journal, vol.XIX, 2011, pp.106-119