The Madness of Orlando

Currently not on view

The Madness of Orlando

c. 1795

Luigi Sabatelli (Italian, 1772–1850)

This drawing, done in pure line and in "engraver's technique," is similar to other examples that Sabatelli--an important Florentine Neoclassical draughtsman, painter, and engraver--produced during his stay in Rome from 1789 until 1794 and subsequently during a stay in Florence in 1795. The subject is a scene from Ludovico Ariosto's poem Orlando furioso (1532) in which the Christian knight Orlando, having torn off his armor, succumbs to madness as he finds his lover's name carved intertwined with another man's into a tree.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

The Madness of Orlando
Illustration of canto 23.102–34 in Orlando furioso (Mad Roland) by Ludivico Ariosto (Italian, 1474–1533), Ferrara: 1532

Date:

c. 1795

Artist:

Luigi Sabatelli (Italian, 1772–1850)

Medium:

Pen and brown ink (possibly iron gall) over traces of black chalk on wove paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 16 7/8 x 27 7/8 inches (42.9 x 70.8 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Print Revolving Fund, 1999

Accession Number:

1999-3-1

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Currently not on view