The Armida convex mirror is one of my bigger( 34″!) mirrors. And its a dazzler with each “ray” filled with clear spheres, cabochons and crystals in various sizes and materials. They are stacked on top of each other in some places giving the frame a depth that approaches 3D.
This one is among my favorites!
The Armida convex mirror is around 34 inches in diameter and is going to be placed in the Allan Knight showroom in Dallas.
Jewelry for walls!
With me every mirror has a story. Armida was a mythical sorceress in Tasso’s epic Jerusalem Delivered (Italian: Gerusalemme liberata), Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome. Armida has been sent to stop the Christians from completing their mission and is about to murder the sleeping soldier, but instead she falls in love. She creates an enchanted garden where she holds him a lovesick prisoner. Eventually Charles and Ubaldo, two of his fellow Crusaders, find him and hold a shield to his face, so he can see his image and remember who he is. Rinaldo barely can resist Armida’s pleadings, but his comrades insist that he return to his Christian duties. At the close of the poem, when the pagans have lost the final battle, Rinaldo, remembering his promise to be her champion still, prevents her from giving way to her suicidal impulses and offers to restore her to her lost throne. She gives in at this, and becomes a Christian and his “handmaid”. Whatever that is.
Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo circa 1745.
Armida is also an opera written by Rossini in 1845.
The photo above is from the Met’s premiere of Armida starring Renee Fleming. Courtesy of the photographer Ken Howard.
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