Erminia and the Shepherds

This scene is drawn from "Jerusalem Delivered" (1581), an epic poem about the Crusades by Torquato Tasso. Tasso recounts the fl ight and disguise of the Muslim princess Erminia, who has fallen in love with the Christian knight Tancred. Guillaume Guillon Lethière depicts the moment when Erminia approaches the home of an old shepherd and his family. Frightened at fi rst by the armored warrior, the shepherd wraps his arm around one of his sons. The painting captures the family’s reactions of admiration and astonishment when Erminia removes her helmet, revealing that she is actually a beautiful young woman.

Guillon Lethière was an artist of mixed race, born in the French colony of Guadeloupe to a royal offi cial and an emancipated slave. At the age of fourteen, he was brought to France by his father to begin his artistic studies. He excelled and continued on to a successful career as a painter and teacher, leading the French Academy in Rome and in 1818 receiving the French Legion of Honor.