Fatima Ronquillo

Beatrice

2016

Brian O'Neill's (US based) "Exhale" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a nude male figure stooped over and keeling on the ground, with his back exposed and bowing his...

Karen Offutt's (US based) "Spark" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a nude female on an abstracted background. The painting is framed, with overall dimensions of 18 ...

Karen Offutt's (US based) "Luster" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a portrait of a woman on an abstracted background. The painting is framed, with overall dimensio...

Literary Origins of Angelica The subject of this painting is Angelica, a princess from the epic chivalric romances of the Italian Renaissance. She first appears in Matteo Maria Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato (1483) and reappears famously in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1532). In these poems – part of the Matter of France cycle of Charlemagne and his paladins – Angelica’s extraordinary beauty ensnares many knights, including Orlando (Roland) and his cousin Rinaldo, sparking rivalries and adventures. Ariosto’s narrative particularly highlights Angelica’s tumultuous journey: at one point she is stripped and chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster (a scene mirroring the myth of Andromeda) before being dramatically rescued by the valiant knight Ruggiero on his winged horse. Ultimately, however, Angelica chooses her own destiny. She falls in love with a humble Saracen soldier, Medoro, whom she nurses back to health, and she returns with him to her far-off Asian kingdom – an affair that drives the heartbroken Orlando to madness. This independent resolution (marrying outside the circle of Christian knights) made Angelica an emblem of feminine agency and romantic idealism in Renaissance literature. Her story remained popular in art and literature through the centuries, symbolizing the allure and elusiveness of love. Kronberg’s Portrayal and Composition In Julius Kronberg...