Perseus and Andromeda

probably 1554–56

Oil on canvas, 173 × 186.8 cm · Wallace Collection, London

One of Titian’s six poesie for Philip II, conceived as a partner to The Rape of Europa. It later passed through the collections of Van Dyck and the Orléans family before Lady Wallace left it to the nation in 1897.

Andromeda’s pale body, chained to the rock, stretches across the canvas.
Perseus dives at the sea monster over the water.
Its condition has suffered since the 16th century.
Reunited with the other poesie in 2020–21 in London, Madrid and Boston.

Queen Cassiopeia boasted that she and her daughter outshone the sea nymphs, and a monster was sent to ravage the coast. Perseus freed Andromeda from the rock and married her.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain