Andromeda and Perseus
Europe, United Kingdom, England
76 x 63.5 cm
Andromeda and Perseus after 1840
William Etty 1787-1849
Oil on canvas
Andromeda was a daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope,
the King and Queen of Ethiopia.
Neptune terrorised their country with a sea-monster
after Cassiope claimed to be more beautiful
than the Nereids, or sea-nymphs.
Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice
but was rescued by Perseus, a son of Jupiter.
Waving Medusa's head, he turned the monster to stone
and subsequently married Andromeda.
Artists siezed on the erotic potential of the myth,
this being the second of Etty's two versions.
The first was criticised as 'vulgar'
when shown at the Royal Academy in 1840.
Gift of George Walthew 1894.4