Andromeda chained to the Rock
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1650 - 1750
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2032 x 1524 mm (80 x 60 in)
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108863
Caption
Andromeda has been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to placate the sea monster sent by Neptune (Poseidon) to destroy her native country (Ethiopia). In the original painting by Guido Reni, of 1635-6, in the Palazzo Rospigliosi-Pallavicini and its copy in the National Gallery, London and once in the Royal Collection (1723-1836), Perseus can be seen flying by on his horse, Pegasus, on the upper left but this is a close-up version which concentrates on the nude figure alone.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Andromeda chained to the Rock (after Reni) after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642). Young nude female figure, full-length, facing, head turned slightly to left and looking down, a modesty drape covering lower portion of torso and over left shoulder, right foot forward, taking her weight, the left foot raised and lightly resting on a ledge behind, both arms outstretched and tied at wrist, left arm raised above her head, right arm straight out sideways.According to the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses (4:665-739), Andromeda, an Ethopian princess, daughter of Cepheus and his wife Cassiopeia, was left as a sacrifice to appease Poseidon/Neptune (god of the sea) because her mother had boasted she was more beautiful then the Nereids. She was rescued from a sea monster by Perseus, whom she then married. Noticed by (Sir) George Hayter as 'a fine Guido Reni, Andromeda wanting to be put in order' in his notes of additional pictures in the 'Principal Attics' amongst his annotations to the 1856 guidebook made in 1859.
Provenance
Recorded in Kedleston in 1766; gifted to the National Trust in 1986 by Francis Curzon, 3rd Viscount Scarsdale (1924-2000).
Credit line
Kedleston Hall, The Scarsdale Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1987)
Makers and roles
after Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist