41: The Rubens Room

Perseus and Andromeda

Circa 1622

Rubens, Peter Paul

According to Ovid?s Metamorphoses, the famous Greek hero Perseus, son of Danae and Zeus, saved the daughter of the Ethiopian King Cepheus, who was to have been sacrificed to a sea dragon. Perseus took on and defeated the monster single-handed, rescuing and then marrying the Princess Andromeda. Rubens presents the myth as both the apotheosis of the hero and as a veritable hymn to the power of love. Descending from Olympia, the godess of Glory, bearing a palm, crowns Perseus with a laurel wreath. Andromeda, dropping her eyesmodestly, shrinks slightly but not unwillingly before her saviour. Perseus and Andromeda reveals Rubens's great mastery of the painting technique; combining thick brushstrokes with fine layers of smooth paint, using reflection and coloured shadows, the artist creates a sense of light emanating from the naked body of Andromeda, he conveys the unearthly lightness of her silky hair, the tangibility of the cold shine of the metal and the glossy rump of the horse. Through gradations of tone and light, Rubens creates an unusually rich and harmonious colour scheme.