In this detail, Rinaldo is shamed by fellow soldiers into abandoning Armida and recovering his masculine destiny as a warrior. Yet even here, Tiepolo cannot help contrast the older, bearded warriors flanking Rinaldo with the hero's perfect, youthful beauty and feminine elegance. Here we can see the triumph of eighteenth-century refinement, grace, and "feminine" beauty within the sphere of courtly masculinity, a trend equally visible in French Rococo painting by Watteau, Boucher, Lancret, and others.
