Rinaldo rescued from Armida

Benjamin West

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

West's sketch illustrates "Jerusalem Liberata," an epic poem by Torquato Tasso published in 1581. The story tells of the crusader knight Rinaldo kidnapped by Armida, a sorceress, who takes him to a magical island where the two fall in love. Eventually, the knight's companions Carlo and Ubaldo find him, break the spell, and enable Rinaldo to return to battle. Here, the knight's friends urge him to board a skiff as Armida desperately tries to persuade him to stay.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art