01 Painting, Olympian deities, Arthur Rackham's Andromeda, with footnotes # 46

Arthur Rackham, RWS (British, 1867-1939)

Andromeda

Watercolour and bodycolour

54.5 x 37.3cm (21 7/16 x 14 11/16in)

Private collection

Sold for £88,500 in September 2022

Rackham has applied his unique imagery and style to the myth of Andromeda. The princess has been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the sea monster, Cetus, sent by Poseidon as punishment for Andromeda's mother's claim to be of greater beauty than the sea dwelling Nereids. Andromeda has recoiled in fear as she attempts not to look at the beast which makes its way towards her. The viewer can only anticipate the entry of Perseus, who famously comes to the rescue, but, as with so many Old Master paintings of the same subject, tension is created by his absence. Here, we can see the power of Rackham's imagery in propelling the emotional and narrative arc of his subjects. More on this painting

Andromeda is the daughter of the Aethiopian king Cepheus and his wife Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia's hubris leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is stripped and chained naked to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the monster, but is saved from death by Perseus.

 

As a subject, Andromeda has been popular in art since classical times; it is one of several Greek myths of a Greek hero's rescue of the intended victim of an archaic hieros gamos, giving rise to the "princess and dragon" motif. From the Renaissance, interest revived in the original story, typically as derived from Ovid's account. More on Andromeda

Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. Rackham was born in Lewisham. In 1884, at the age of 17, he was sent on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his fragile health. At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.

In 1892, he left his job and started working for the Westminster Budget as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for The Dolly Dialogues, the collected sketches of Anthony Hope, who later went on to write The Prisoner of Zenda. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.

By the turn of the century Rackham was regularly contributing illustrations to children's periodicals. Although acknowledged as an accomplished book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914. More on Arthur Rackham

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