The Healing of Godfrey of Bouillon by Erotimus, Francesco Solimena

The painter Francisco Solimena lived and worked in Naples, Italy, where he became renowned for his lively and dramatic work in the Baroque style. This painting exemplifies Baroque aesthetics through the powerful staging and contrast of light and dark, known as chiaroscuro. 

This painting depicts a legendary moment in the life of Godfrey of Bouillion (1060–1100), a French nobleman and leader of the first Christian crusade to conquer Jerusalem. After the crusaders captured Jerusalem, Godfrey became its new ruler, and he was posthumously romanticized as an ideal Christian knight. This scene depicts Godfrey, who has a serious leg wound from an arrow, resting his leg on a pedestal while the renowned healer Erotimus tends to him. According to legend, Erotimus struggled to remove the arrowhead until an angel appeared carrying the healing herb dittany. The painting shows Erotimus receiving a bowl with juices squeezed from the dittany, which he uses to remove the arrowhead and heal Godfrey.