Piero di Cosimo, Perseus Freeing Andromeda Uffizi Gallery, Florence

1. A hero swoops down from the sky to save the beautiful girl from a giant sea monster …

3. The myth of Perseus and Andromeda

4. Piero di Cosimo
Perseus Freeing Andromeda
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

5. A masterpiece of the Florentine Renaissance depicting the myth recounted by Ovid in Book IV of the Metamorphoses

7. The myth of Perseus and Andromeda …
In a single painting, Piero di Cosimo portrays several scenes from Ovid's tale.
The story unfolds in a circular fashion from the top-right hand corner, which depicts Mount Atlas.

9. Perseus leaves Mount Atlas …
Having killed Medusa, Perseus asks Atlas to shelter him, but the Titan refuses.
Offended, Perseus raised the head of the Medusa ... and Atlas became a mountain.

12. Perseus flying to Ethiopia …
Perseus continues his journey, flying over different parts of the world.
He has winged sandals, the Helm of Hades which makes him invisible, the shield of Athena which gleams like a mirror,
and the adamant sickle of Hermes.
He eventually lands in Ethiopia.

15. Perseus sees Andromeda offered in sacrifice to a sea monster …
Andromeda, the daughter of the King of Ethiopia Cepheus, who has been offered in sacrifice to a sea monster
as a divine punishment for her mother Cassiopeia's conceit.

20. Perseus's words to Andromeda …
The two figures embracing allude to the words that Perseus says to Andromeda:
"These chains don't do you justice; the only chains that you should wear are those that ardent lovers
put on in their passion" ...

24. The sea monster is coming …

27. Cepheus, Phineus and Cassiopeia …
Andromeda's father Cepheus (wearing a white turban), her suitor Phineus (wearing an exotic gown of red feathers),
and her mother Cassiopeia (wearing a blue cloak and covering her face in despair) all watch on helplessly.

32. Perseus fighting against the monster …
Smitten with Andromeda, Perseus offers to free her in exchange for her hand in marriage.
He lands on the monster, wounds it, and prepares to deliver the fatal blow.

36. Perseus frees Andromeda and marries her …
A group of revelers waves laurel branches, a symbol of the peace that he has brought them.

40. Celebration with gorgeous Renaissance musical instruments …
The man is playing an unusual instrument consisting of a flute with three holes and a stringed tambourine,
typical of Gascony and the South of France.

43. Perseus builds three votive altars …
Perseus builds three votive altars to the gods Hermes (Mercury), Athena (Minerva) and Zeus (Jupiter),
sacrificing a calf, a cow and a bull to them respectively.

46. Seaweed turns into coral …
Perseus rests Medusa's head on a bed of seaweed.
As soon as it touches the blood of the Gorgon, the seaweed becomes petrified, turning to coral.

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The myth of Perseus and Andromeda
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Music Hauser Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker by P. I. Tchaikovsky
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51. The painting in the Medicean collections.
The painting originally hung in the bridal chamber of Filippo Strozzi the Younger.
It then became part of the Medici Collections, and it was displayed in the Tribuna of the Uffizi in 1589.
Various symbolic references to the Medici can be identified in the work.

53. Allusions to the Medici family.
Here the emblem of the Medici, a lopped laurel branch (or "broncone") which is still capable of regenerating,
like the Phoenix.
This is an allusion to the return of the Medici to the city in 1512 after their exile, a return which was supported by
Filippo Strozzi, who had married a member of the Medici family in 1508.

55. Perseus and the Medicean allegory.
In the middle of the bush, we can just make out Perseus's shield with its characteristic diamond tip.
This was another emblem of the Medici at the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent, when it was accompanied
by the motto "SEMPER".

57. Giorgio Vasari's praise.
"Piero never made a more lovely or more highly finished picture than this one“
(Giorgio Vasari, "The Life of Piero di Cosimo")