Tancred and Erminia
by TURCHI, Alessandro, Oil on canvas, 99 x 133 cm
This painting was formerly in the Royal Castle, Budapest.
According to Torquato Tasso’s account in Gerusalemme Liberata (canto XIX, 104-14), Tancred, after being wounded by Argante during the siege of Jerusalem, is helped by Vafrino. On removing Tancred’s armor and discovering his wounds, he tells Erminia. Erminia tends her lover’s bloody wounds with the braided tresses of her own hair. The depiction of the subject was influenced by two famous Christian themes: The Lament over the Dead Christ and St Sebastian Tended by Pious Women.