Andromeda Chained to Rock. Andromeda Chained to the Rocks is a 34 x 25 oil on panel painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt.
It is now in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands. Andromeda represents Rembrandt's first full length mythological female nude history painting and is taken from a story in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
In Metamorphoses, Andromeda is the daughter of an Ethiopian king and queen, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia was very boastful about her beauty, and asserted that she was more beautiful than Juno, the queen of the gods and the Nereids.
Insulted by Cassiopeia's assertions, Neptune sent a sea monster to the Ethiopian coast. Neptune then could only be appeased upon the sacrifice of Andromeda, the kings beautiful virgin daughter, to the sea monster.
Andromeda was chained naked to rocks by the coast, awaiting the sea monster. Perseus, passing by, had noticed the beautiful girl and made a deal with her parents that he would save her, should he be allowed to have her hand in marriage. The king and queen agree and Andromeda was spared. This painting depicts a classic example of the damsel in distress. In this theme a beautiful young woman is placed in a perilous situation, usually involving a monster or being trapped in captivity. The damsel can then only be rescued by a hero, whom of which she usually ends up marrying. In this painting, Andromeda has a distressed look on her face a