‘As soon as Perseus … saw her fastened by her arms to the hard rock, he would have thought she was a marble statue except that the light breeze stirred her hair, and warm tears ran from her eyes.’ Ovid
As divine punishment for her mother’s bragging about her daughter’s unrivalled beauty, Andromeda was stripped and chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster that was incensed by the queen’s hubris. Here Carracci has depicted a moment of suspense, just before Perseus rescues the sensual and helpless princess.
