Andromeda aan de rots geketend

Andromeda stands nude and bound to a rocky outcrop, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers in elaborate, exotic costumes including her grieving parents. In the distance, Perseus descends from the sky on the winged horse Pegasus to battle a serpentine sea monster emerging from the water. The print is characterized by the stylized, muscular anatomy and dramatic compositions typical of the late sixteenth-century Haarlem Mannerists.

This work reflects the Neoplatonic and allegorical interests of the Haarlem circle around Goltzius and Karel van Mander, where Ovidian myths were interpreted as spiritual journeys. Perseus's rescue of Andromeda was often viewed as an allegory for the liberation of the soul from the bondage of the material world and chaotic elemental forces.