Giovanni Maria Benzoni

Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century. He was known for his melancholy disposition and grew a reputation across Europe as a tortured and misunderstood genius in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The present model is identified by the inscription on the scroll, a line from the proem of Tasso's magnum opus Gerusalemme Liberata, which recounts the travails of the Christian army led by Godrey of Bouillon during the last months of the first crusade. The laurel wreath is probably a reference to Pope Clement VIII's plans to make him poet laureate. Tasso died before he could be awarded the title.