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Roger Freeing Angelica

Roger Freeing Angelica —created in Rome, Italy, in 1819, is a 🌿Painting attributed to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres that illustrates a scene from 🦉Ludovico Ariosto's 🍃Epic poem "Orlando Furioso." The artwork depicts the heroic knight Roger astride his hippogriff, rescuing the nude and vulnerable Angelica from a sea monster, a dramatic moment filled with dynamic movement and romantic 🍃Tension. Ingres employs a classical composition with precise lines and vivid colors, displaying his mastery of 🍃Form and 🍃Attention to detail, particularly in the portrayal of the figures and their expressions. This painting exemplifies the neoclassical 🍃Style, emphasizing clarity and 🍃Harmony, while also integrating elements of 🌿Romanticism through its narrative intensity and emotional depth. Roger Freeing Angelica is part of the collection at 🍃The Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Genealogy

Roger Freeing Angelica emerges as a pivotal scene within the narrative framework of Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem "Orlando Furioso," a cornerstone text of the 🍃Italian Renaissance that blends 🍃Chivalric Romance with classical 🌳Mythology. The artwork’s title alludes to the dramatic episode where the knight Roger, astride a mythical creature, rescues the damsel Angelica from a sea monster, a tale inspired by the ancient story of Perseus and Andromeda. This narrative synergy reflects the intellectual milieu of the sixteenth-century revival of Greco-Roman myths reshaped by the evolving ideas of courtly 🍃Love and 🍃Heroism. Angelica’s plight and subsequent rescue by Roger symbolize the tensions between savagery and civilization, echoing the humanist discourses of the 🍃Period that revered both classical 🍃Antiquity and 🍃Contemporary moral virtues. The painting’s historical 🍃Function has shifted over centuries, often employed as an emblem of triumphant heroism, yet sometimes misused to reinforce gender stereotypes through its dramatic gender 🍃Dynamics. Other depictions of this subject, such as those by 🦉Eugène Delacroix or Gustave Doré, have likewise navigated a complex interplay of 🍃Power, 🍃Beauty, and 🍃Salvation, each accentuating or challenging differing aspects of Roger and Angelica’s story. Such artwork has historically critiqued or celebrated the ideals of heroism, often depending on the prevailing cultural narratives and societal 🍃Values of the 🍃Time. The underlying 🍃Structure of Roger Freeing Angelica reveals a layered discourse on chivalric valor, embodying a harmonious blend of visual storytelling and literary 🍃Tradition that continues to provoke 🍃Dialogue about the everlasting appeal of myth and romance within the 🍃Context of human virtue and endeavor.