Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre

Lanfranco’s large painting was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione for his villa at Frascati, at the time when the artist was working on The Council of the Gods in the loggia of the Villa Borghese (1624). It depicts an episode from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (XII, 23 ff.), in which Norandino, King of Damascus and his bride Lucina are shipwrecked on the Ogre’s island while on their honeymoon. They attempt to escape from the cave, but Lucina is discovered. Lanfranco’s figures move theatrically and are rendered with rapid brushstrokes. The dense colour of the classical landscape make Lanfranco far removed from the delicate glazing of his rival Domenichino.