Clash of the Titans
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 19:46, 3 December 2009
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Andromeda was a woman from Greek mythology who was chained to a rock to be a sacrifice to a sea monster as divine punishment for her mother's bragging. She was saved from death by Perseus, her future husband. Her name is the Latinized form of the Greek Ανδρομέδη (Andromedē). The etymology of the name is "to think of a man," from ανδρος (andros) "man" combined with μηδομαι (mēdomai) "to think, to be mindful of."
Portrayals of the myth
Sophocles and Euripides (and in more modern times Corneille) made the story the subject of tragedies, and its incidents were represented in numerous ancient works of art. Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera Persée also dramatizes the myth.
Andromeda has been the subject of numerous ancient and modern works of art, including Andromeda Chained to the Rocks (Rembrandt), one of Titian's poesies (Wallace Collection), and compositions by Joachim Wtewael (Louvre), Veronese (Rennes), Rubens, Ingres and Gustave Moreau. From the Renaissance onwards the chained nude figure of Andromeda was typically the centre of interest, and often she was shown alone, fearfully awaiting the monster.
The 1981 film Clash of the Titans retells the story of Perseus, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia, but makes a few changes (notably Cassiopeia boasts that her daughter is more beautiful than Thetis as opposed to the Nereids as a group). Thetis was a Nereid, but also the future mother of Achilles. Andromeda and Perseus meet and fall in love after he saves her soul from the enslavement of Thetis' hideous son, Calibos, whereas in the myth, they simply meet as Perseus returns home from having slain Medusa. Andromeda is also depicted as being strong-willed and independent, whereas in the stories she is only really mentioned as being the princess whom Perseus saves from the sea monster. Andromeda was portrayed by Judi Bowker in this film. Also, the subplot about Thetis' son Calibos was added to the plot of the film. However, he more closely resembles Caliban from Shakespeare's Tempest than any creature truly found in Greek myth.
At the port city of Jaffa, Israel, an outcropping of rocks near the harbour is reputed by local legend to have been the place from which Andromeda was rescued by Perseus.
Theme in art
- Titian, Wallace Collection
- Joachim Wtewael, Louvre
- Andromeda Chained to the Rocks, Rembrandt (1630)
- Andromeda's parents thank Perseus for freeing her; La Délivrance d'Andromède (1679) Pierre Mignard
- Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids (1840) by Théodore Chassériau
- Andromeda (1869) by Paul Gustave Doré
- Andromeda (1892) by M Arosa
- A sculpture of Andromeda by Domenico Guidi.
- Painting by Eugène Delacroix
