Perseus and Andromeda

Perseus and Andromeda is one of Frederic Leighton's mythological paintings, completed in 1891 and shown that same year at the Royal Academy. It depicts the moment when Perseus, returning home after defeating Medusa, rescues Andromeda, the princess offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster sent as punishment for her mother Cassiopeia's vanity. Leighton set the scene on a rocky shore but handled it in a Gothic manner rather than a classical one. The composition is carefully built: Perseus flies over Andromeda's head on the winged horse Pegasus and shoots an arrow that strikes the beast, which turns its head toward the hero. The pale figure of the princess, almost naked and chained to the rock, stands out against the dark, jagged mass of the monster, while a halo of light links horse and rider to her body. Leighton first worked out the figure in a small sculpture, which he draped with wet cloth to study the folds. The result is a dramatic and highly finished picture, in which light and the contrast of forms sustain the sense of imminent danger.

Painter

Frederic Leighton

Date

1891

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

235 × 129 cm

Museum

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Movement

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Genre

mythological painting

Depicts

Perseus, Andromeda, dragon

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