ABSTRACT
Gerusalemme liberata, or Jerusalem Delivered, is one of the great epics of Italian literature. Written between 1559 and 1575 by the Ferrarese court poet Torquato Tasso, it is loosely based upon the tale of the first Christian crusade to recapture Jerusalem from the Turks in the eleventh century, under the command of Godfrey of Boulogne. The Christian epic describes the siege and taking of the city, but includes related incidents of pastoral and romantic interest. In most cases the paintings were private commissions and there is no trace of information telling us what the patron expected. Despite the smaller size Castello still introduced ornamental borders for the plates, with a different design for each one; these are in contrast to the simple beaded frames of his. The selection of subjects from Tasso's epic, and the development of their treatment, provides a true and perceptible link between the last decades of the sixteenth century and the formation of the wide panorama.
