Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Andromeda.
The gallery
Andromeda Chained to the Rocks
Rembrandt, 1630
Rembrandt's first full-length mythological nude isolates the Ethiopian princess alone on the rock — no Perseus yet, only Andromeda's pale body and the chain that waits for the sea-monster. Oil on panel, Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids
Théodore Chassériau, 1840
Chassériau paints the Nereids binding Andromeda to the cliff: sea-nymphs and the chained princess before the rescue, Cassiopeia's boast made flesh. Oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Andromeda
Edward Poynter, 1869
Poynter's Victorian Andromeda stands chained against the rock with a blue cloth at her ankle — Ovid and Apollodorus restaged as Academic spectacle, the princess as the myth's still centre before Perseus arrives.
Perseus and Andromeda
Titian, 1554–1556
Titian's poesie freezes Andromeda on the rock as Perseus dives sword-first at the sea-monster — the Ethiopian rescue as Venetian storm of flesh and foam. Oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London.
Perseus Freeing Andromeda
Peter Paul Rubens, 1621
Rubens shows the moment the chains give way: Andromeda steps from the rock into Perseus' arms while putti and the slain monster fill the shore. Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.