The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 25, 2021

Andromeda

c. 1720-1730

Antonio Tarsia

(Italian, 1663-1739)

Italy, Venice, 18th century

Terracotta

Overall: 25.5 x 32 x 19.5 cm (10 1/16 x 12 5/8 x 7 11/16 in.)

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee in memory of Professor Donald Weeks 1981.227

Location

301 Baroque Sculpture Mezzanine

Description

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.

Provenance
Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
Private collection (sold, Sotheby's, London, 30 July 1964, no. 113, as "probably Austrian, early 18th c.," to Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee.
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1981." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (1982): 39-82. no. 22, p. 46 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

The Persistence of Classicism in Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1988-January 15, 1989).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1981.227