Sculpture
Andromeda
SculptureCeramicsMythology & Allegory
Details
- Author / creator
- Antonio Tarsia (Italian, 1663–1739)
- Object type
- Sculpture
- Date or period
- c. 1720–30
- Dimensions summary
- Overall: 25.5 × 32 × 19.5 cm
- Primary material
- Ceramic
- Place of origin
- Italy
- Acquisition method
- Donation
- Credit line
- Gift of the Hartley Bequest, 1981
About this object
To stop attacks by a sea monster sent to punish Queen Cassiopeia for bragging that she was more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea, an oracle decreed that her virgin daughter, Andromeda, be tied to a rock and sacrificed to the creature. The hero Perseus would eventually save her, but artists often chose this moment as an opportunity to display a young, nude woman, justified by a veneer of mythology.
Materials and technique
Terracotta
