Ruggiero at the Court of the Sorceress Alcina

The painting is a faithful representation of the episode from Ludovico Ariosto’s (1474-1533) epic poem Orlando Furioso in which Ruggiero arrives at Alcina’s court where, seduced by her beauty, he joins the feast prepared in his honour together with other couples. The setting devoid of any spatial references, the evocative contrasting light of the torchlight, the gesture of whispering into one another’s ears and the slightly raised perspective of the scene, as though someone were spying on the amorous gathering, effectively evoke the ambiance of ambiguity and seduction created by the sorceress’ spell to enchant Ruggiero. In particular, the candlelight inspired by the paintings of the Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst, whose Florentine works in the Medici collections would certainly have been known to Manetti, is particularly effective in portraying the enchanted night described in Orlando Furioso.

The scene is highly symbolic and was intended as a warning to live a virtuous life and not be enslaved by lust.