Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Gorgophone.
The gallery
Perseus rescuing Andromeda (Corinthian amphora)
Unknown, c. 575–550 BC
An Archaic black-figure amphora of Corinthian manufacture showing the hero Perseus defending the bound princess Andromeda from the sea-monster Ketos, the pair pelting the beast with stones. It is among the oldest surviving depictions of the rescue that led to the marriage of Perseus and Andromeda — the union that produced Gorgophone, 'the Gorgon-slayer's daughter.' The vessel is held in the Altes Museum, Berlin.
Perseus and Andromeda (Casa di Sappho fresco)
Unknown, 1st century AD
A Roman wall painting from the Casa di Sappho at Pompeii in which Perseus, having freed Andromeda, holds up the severed head of Medusa so that she may safely view its reflection in a pool of water. The tender, intimate treatment captures the couple at the threshold of the marriage from which Gorgophone — daughter of Perseus and Andromeda — would be born. It is preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum (Inv. 8995).
The Liberation of Andromeda
Piero di Cosimo, c. 1510–1515
A Florentine Renaissance panel showing the fantastical sea-dragon writhing as Perseus, descending from the air, drives his blade into it before the crowd gathered on the shore and the chained Andromeda. Painted for the Strozzi family, it stages the deliverance that made Perseus and Andromeda husband and wife — the parents of Gorgophone. It hangs in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Perseus and Andromeda
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1622
A Baroque oil in which a victorious Perseus, his shield bearing the Medusa's head, is crowned by a winged Victory as he turns toward the radiant, newly freed Andromeda while putti tend to his horse Pegasus. Rubens dwells on the moment the rescue becomes courtship — the prelude to the marriage that gave rise to Gorgophone. The painting is held in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.