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This work was part of a cycle of nineteen paintings inspired by the poems of Ovid, Ariosto and Tasso, commissioned by the Cardinal Carlo de' Medici and destined to decorate his apartments in the Casino di San Marco. The episode shown here is narrated in the last canto of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, which centres on the terrible battle between the Crusaders and the Egyptian army, when Rinaldo and Armida challenge each other to a duel. The sorceress, after attempting in vain to strike the young warrior, with whom she is still in love, decides to kill herself with the same arrow used in combat.
The dramatic tone of the expressions, the theatrical pose of the figures, and the precious nature of the painting, rich with colour and light effects, with elegant ornate detailing reflect the orientation of Florentine art in the early 17th century.
The pastoral idyll, Armida's hate for the crusaders turned to love for one Crusader, and the call of duty that leaves Armida abandoned, all appealed to Baroque and Rococo artists. George Frideric Handel composed an opera using a libretto written by Giacomo Rossi, based on episodes of Gerusalemme liberata.
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