Odoric and the Witch also known as Orlando and the Witch.

Painting height: 35.6 cm
Painting width: 27.9 cm

The composition was begun sometime during Watts’s stay in Italy between 1842-47 and illustrates a scene from the epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516-1532), translated as The Fury of Orlando, by Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) , which was a sequel to the epic romance Orlando Innamorato (1483-1495) by Matteo Maria Boiardo (1441-1494). Orlando (or Roland), the Knight, can be seen riding on horseback through an Italian landscape as he is surprised by a witch.

First translated into English in 1591, the epic poem Orlando Furioso primarily focuses on the paladin Orlando during a war between the Christian emperor of Europe, Charlemagne and Saracen the king of Africa as the latter invades Europe in order to avenge his father.  Orlando is Charlemagne's most well-known paladin and he leaves the battle in order to follow his love Angelica.  However, Angelica falls in love with and marries Medoro, a wounded infantryman from Saracen's army.  Orlando then goes mad and rampages across Europe and Africa and until he inhales his wits which Astolfo recovered when he visited the moon.  Orlando then rejoins Charlemagne's army and kills King Agramante who sided with Saracen.  The poem also follows other characters across other adventures and includes additional adventures including magic and mythical creatures.

Sources which address this painting clearly indicate that G.F. Watts started this work early in his career, but completed it much later. When this monochromatic study of Odoric and the Witch, also known as Orlando and the Witch and Orlando Surprised by the Witch, was first exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1882 some thought it was a ‘sketch that no one should have seen’ [1]. The other more finished version of the painting in the Watts Gallery Collections was never exhibited (COMWG.4, 1845-1868). In fact, as Mary Watts notes, the latter was ‘forgotten’ for a long time due to Watts having covered the painting with another canvas. [2]  In the book The Mind and Work of G.F. Watts, first published in 1929, Rowland Alston seconds this history of this painting in a brief summary simply stating, "A subject from Ariosto, designed when [ G.F. Watts was] in Italy 184-1847, and completed many years later". [3]  

Many other artists represented this epic poem in other media.  This includes paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Odilon Redon Eugene Delacroix, as well as Gustave Dore.  Furthermore, composers such as Handel, Vivaldi, and Rossi wrote operas based upon this work, This poem has also influenced works by Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and Salman Rushdie.  In 1843 Modern Chivalry, or, A New Orlando Furioso probably authored by Catherine Gore (1798-1861) was serialised in Ainsworth’s Magazine under the editorship of William Harrison Ainsworth.  More recently, the poem was adapted into a cartoon featuring Donald Duck in 1966,  mentioned in the videogame Civilization V, adapted as a trading card game in 2014.

Footnotes:

[1] Anon. ‘Notes on Current Events’ in British Architect 17.5 (Feb 3, 1882), pp. 50-52, p. 51.

[2] Mary Watts, Catalogue of Works by G.F. Watts, p. 110. 

[3] The Mind and Work of G.F. Watts by Rowland Alston Plate 29

Text by Dr Eva-Charlotta Mebius