The Angelica convex mirror is composed of a silver gilded frame layered with sections of clear transparent Venetian glass rods. Small clear spheres are sprinkled over the surface. Quartz crystal balls surround the frame.
The Angelica convex mirror is 7 inches in diameter. It is in my New York showroom, Profiles. Contact Russell Raiteri at 212-689-6903 if you are interested.
Jewelry for walls!
The name Angelica is erived from Latin angelicus meaning “angelic”, ultimately related to Greek αγγελος (angelos) “messenger”. The poets Boiardo and Ariosto used this name in their ‘Orlando’ poems (1495 and 1532), where it belongs to Orlando’s love interest. It has been used as a given name since the 18th century.
In Boiardo’s poem Orlando Innamorato, Angelica is introduced as the daughter of Galafrone, the king of “Cathay”, or “India”. She comes to Charlemagne’s court with her brother Argalia (who assumes the identity of a knight named Uberto dal Leòne). All the knights are smitten with her, especially the cousins Orlando and Rinaldo, but the protective Argalia will only allow her to marry a man who can best him in a joust. When Argalia eventually falls to the Saracen knight Ferrau. Orlando and Rinaldo threaten to destroy each other over her. As the Saracens lay siege to castle, Charlemagne promises Angelica’s hand to whichever cousin fights best for him. The battle is lost, however, and the characters go on to further adventure: Rinaldo and Angelica drink from magic fountains twice, each time leaving one madly in love and the other indifferent, while Orlando loses his wits to his passion.
Boiardo left his epic unfinished, but the action was taken up in Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. Angelica is continually sought throughout the world by Orlando, Rinaldo, and the best knights from various countries. She eventually finds herself naked and chained to a rock in the sea, offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster(a situation identical to the perils of Andromeda). She is rescued by the African knight Ruggiero, who gives her a ring of invisibility. Later, pursued by the maddened Orlando, she uses the ring and vanishes. She ultimately falls in love with an ordinary Moor soldier Medoro and returns with him to Cathay; the lovesick Orlando requires the aid of his cousin Astolpho to recover his senses.
Part of a fresco cycle at the Casa Massimo depicting scenes from Orlando Furioso. Painted by Heirich Hübsch and the Nazarines( sort of an artist collective) in 1817.
The opera by George Frederic Handel, Rinaldo( 1711), is one of his most dazzling pieces of theater. Angelica is the love interest. It finally arrived at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984 with a cast that included Marilyn Horne and Samuel Ramey.
Samuel Ramey made his Met debut in the part of Argante. He made his entrance riding a baroque chariot! He tore the roof off the house.
You must be logged in to post a comment.