Renaud et Armide Textile

The original epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso was first published in 1581.
It relates how the sorceress, Armide, having fallen in love with the crusading knight, Renaud, is now on a mission to destroy him. The intense moment is when Armide cannot bring herself to stab the sleeping Renaud with a dagger: she understands that she fell in love at first sight. He succumbs to Armide’s charms in her enchanted palace, but she fears the power of her rival, Glory. Armide realises that Renaud loves her only because she exercises her supernatural powers over him, and when, thanks to the help of his friends, Renaud recovers his honour and his military glory, he finally abandons her. At the end, she swears vengeance, conjures up the Demons to destroy her palace, and flies off in her chariot. Adapted by Lully at Versailles for the King Louis XIV, critics
in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully’s masterpiece : the psychological torments of a woman torn between love and revenge.