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| Rome Perseus and Andromeda 1st century BC sardonyx cameo Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Annibale Carracci Study for Andromeda ca. 1596-98 drawing for fresco Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Perseus and Andromeda 1597 drawing (print study) Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Perseus and Andromeda 1597 engraving Princeton University Art Museum |
An ougly monster from the deepe was making to the shore
Which bare the Sea before his breast. The Virgin shrieked out.
Her father and her mother both stood mourning thereabout
In wretched ease both twaine, but not so wretched as the maid
Who wrongly for hir mother's fault the bitter raunsome paid.
They brought not with them any help: but (as the time and case
Required) they wept and wrang their hands, and streightly did embrace
Hir bodie fastened to the rock. Then Persey them bespake
And sayde: the time may serve too long this sorrow for to make:
But time of helpe must eyther now or never else be take.
Now if I Persey sonne of hir whome in hir father's towre
The mightie Jove begat with childe in shape of golden showre,
Who cut off ougly Gorgon's head bespread with snakish heare,
And in the Ayre durst trust these winges my body for to beare,
Perchaunce should save your daughter's life, I think ye should as then
Accept mee for your sonne in lawe before all other men.
To these great thewes (by the help of God) I purpose for to adde
A just desert in helping hir that is so hard bestadde.
I covenaunt with you by my force and manhood for to save hir,
Conditionly that to my wife in recompence I have hir.
– from Book 4 of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding (1567)
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| Bernardino Capitelli after Rutilio Manetti Andromeda and sea monster ca. 1630-40 engraving after painting in the Borghese Gallery, Rome British Museum |
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| Domenico Fetti Perseus and Andromeda ca. 1620-22 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Perseus and Andromeda ca. 1622 oil on panel transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Francesco Furini Andromeda ca. 1636 canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Pierre Puget Perseus and Andromeda 1678-84 marble Louvre |
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| Domenico Guidi Andromeda and sea monster 1694 marble Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Donato Creti Perseus and Andromeda 1710s oil on canvas private collection |
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| Carle Van Loo Perseus and Andromeda ca. 1735-40 canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
The monster being wounded sore did sometime leape aloft,
And sometime under water dive, bestirring him full oft
As doth a chaufed Boare beset with barking Dogges about.
But Persey with his lightsome wings still keeping him without
The monster's reach, with hooked sword doth sometime hew his back
Whereas the hollow scales give way: and sometimes he doth hack
The ribbes on both his maled sides: and sometime he doth wound
His spindle tayle where into fish it growes most smal and round.
The Whale at Persey from his mouth such waves of water cast,
Bemixed with the purple blood, that all bedreint at last
His feathers verie heavie were: and doubting any more
To trust his wings now waxing wet, he straight began to sore
Up to a rocke, which in the calme above the water stood
But in the tempest evermore was hidden with the flood:
And leaning thereunto, and with his left hand holding just
The top thereof, a dozen times his weapon he did thrust
Among his guttes.
– from Book 4 of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding (1567)
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| Anton Raphael Mengs Perseus and Andromeda 1778 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Jean-Baptiste Regnault Andromeda's Return 1782 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Jean-Baptiste Regnault Wedding of Perseus and Andromeda 1782 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |