Erminia vyrýva meno Tancreda do kôry stromu

This painting features the literary depiction of the romance epic, Orlando Furioso by Italian poet Ariosto (1474–1533). Angelica, the daughter of a Chinese king saves Medoro, a wounded Saracen knight and follower of Saracen leader, Dardinello, and falls in love with him. This painting captures the moment when Angelica carves the name of Medoro in the bark of a tree. This evidence of love drives Orlando into a jealous rage.

The theme is reduced to the half figure of Angelica carving in the tree bark. We can see only a tree top and hilly landscape on the horizon behind her. Isolated against the dark background provided by the tree top, she is situated in a cut in which she is depicted up to her waist and is the single essential motif of this painting. This clearly enhanced the dramatic and emotional aspect of the depiction.

At least one replica of this painting exists, and during an auction it was designated as the work of Alessandro Tiarini, a prominent artist of Bologna. The shapes are more clearly defined and the colors are muted in this painting. The same type of face appears in Alessandro Tiarini’s altar painting, Liberation of Saint Peter from Prison in the Church of Santi Stefano e Niccolao in Pescia. The mirror image of the saint is also found in the painting Four Figures of Saints and a Donor, which is situated in the Church of San Martino Maggiore in Bologna.
 

Zuzana Ludiková ● LUDIKOVÁ, Zuzana - BURAN, Dušan. Talianska maľba = Italian Painting. Bratislava : Slovenská národná galéria, 2013. 242 strán. ISBN 9788080591748.