Story of Perseus and Andromeda (early 1500s): Art, History and Details

Story of Perseus and Andromeda (early 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Greek mythological story of Perseus and Andromeda is represented here as a quest for a maiden, read from right to left in three sections. At the upper right, Andromeda has been chained to a rock by her parents, at the lower right, as a sacrifice to a dragon sent by Poseidon, god of the sea. In the center on a millefleur (floral) ground, Perseus on horseback kills the dreaded dragon. Within the castle at the left, Perseus kneels before an altar, and at the far left, he marries Andromeda.

Object facts

• Title: Story of Perseus and Andromeda
• Date: early 1500s
• Culture: Netherlands, early 16th century
• Type: Tapestry
• Technique: tapestry weave: wool and silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 320.5 x 446.8 cm (126 3/16 x 175 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1927.487

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William M. ""Perseus and Andromeda," a Gothic Tapestry in the John Huntington Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 14, no. 3 (March 1927): 34–40.
• Siple, Ella S. "A Late Gothic Tapestry at Cleveland." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 51, no. 293 (August 1927): 99–100.
• "A Gothic Tapestry." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 51, no. 294 (September 1927): 149–150.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.