The Rescue of Andromeda

myminifactory

This cast of a bronze bas-relief forms a crucial part of Benvenuto Cellini's masterwork, Perseus and Medusa, the sculptural ensemble that has occupied the east arcade of Florence's Piazza della Signoria since its unveiling in 1554. The depiction of Perseus Liberating Andromeda represents Cellini's final contribution to his public masterpiece and is arguably the crowning touch to a monumental statuary group supported by an elaborate base or pedestal. The relief was not cast until 1552, while Medusa and the colossal Perseus were cast in June 1548 and during winter of 1549 respectively. Although Cellini designed but did not carve the white marble base for Perseus and Medusa, the smaller bronze statues in its four niches are entirely his work, dating to April 1552. Like an open book, the relief's narrative splits down the middle into distinct pages, which despite their semblance of unity refer to two chronologically distinct but contiguous Ovidian passages. On the left-hand side, Perseus plunges earthward to save Andromeda from the monster as his fiancé and his men gather momentum on the facing side, heralding the battle to come. The relief's later date, bookish character and differing form (relief) and genre (narrative) suggest that it functions as a commentary or gloss on the Perseus, analogous to that afforded by Cellini's autobiography, the Vita (1558-66), or his treatises on the arts, the Trattati (1565-67). The expansion of Cellini's artistic practice into literary domains of narration and art theory is symptomatic of the phase of his career following completion of his major work of sculpture, the Perseus and Medusa.