Armida reminds the ladies that you can never count on a man, especially one intent on recreating 300.

In a valiant demonstration of “bros before hoes,” Rinaldo finally leaves his new girlfriend Armida in order to rejoin his crusader buddies in their siege—I mean…liberation—of Jerusalem. To put the misogynistic cherry on top of this sundae, the way he is convinced to leave his lady love is because being in love makes him look too feminine. Sure, without his helmet you can see he has a head of hair that rivals that of a Pantene model, but a real man should be secure enough in his masculinity to not care what others think. Armida tries to appeal to him in order to get him to stay by sticking out her pale leg.

This painting is part 3 of 4 in a series done for the Venetian palace of the Cornaro family based on Torquato Tasso’s poem Jerusalem Liberated. The scene preceding this one is when Armida brings Rinaldo to her love garden, and the scene following this one is a magician showing Rinaldo how manly his ancestors were, encouraging him to live up to their manly example. But I don’t really get how leaving a pretty lady who willingly exposes an entire limb to you in order to join up with a bunch of sweaty men fits with the heteronormative idea of “manhood” that is supposedly being portrayed in this story. Dude, embrace your femininity and open yourself to love instead of being a racist douchebag.