In Greek mythology Princess Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of King Cepheus of Aethiopia (Ethiopia) and Queen Cassiopeia. As the queen openly boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Poseidon, the insulted daughters asked their father to do something about it. In his turn, Poseidon sent a sea monster named Cetus to ravage the coast of Aethiopia and wreak havoc to punish the queen for her pride and insolence. Consequently, as the sea level was increasing alarmingly, King Cepheus consulted with the oracle of Apollo, who advised him to sacrifice his daughter to Cetus to save the situation. Finding no other way to save the country and the people, the helpless King had to accept the instruction and the poor princesses was stripped naked and was chained to a rock at the edge of the sea as an offering to Cetus, the monster.

However, before the monster attacked the princesses, Perseus, one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology, was returning home on his winged horse, Pegasus, just after killing Medusa, the monster with hair of snakes. As a token of his victory, Perseus was carrying with him the severed head of Medusa, whose stare could turn anything that gazed upon her into stone. On the way to his home, he noticed the helpless beauty, chained to the rock.

Immediately he came to her help and rescued her by using his magic sickle to cut the chains. Meanwhile, as the giant sea serpent Cetus reared its huge, ugly head to attack Andromeda and she screamed in fear, Perseus turned it to stone by showing the severed head of Medusa, which he was carrying. In some other version of the story, Perseus killed Cetus by striking a vicious blow with his sickle.

After the incident, Andromeda and Perseus fell in love with each other and following many other incidents, they were married and happily lived ever after. However, that is another story.

For details about the story of Perseus and Andromeda interested persons may visit - Perseus Andromeda Paintings

It is interesting to note, each constellation in the endless sky has numerous mythological stories associated with their star pattern and Andromeda is not an exception to it. According to the legendary stories, goddess Athena was pleased to place the image of Andromeda among the stars. However, all the characters connected with the mythological story of Andromeda, can be found surrounding the star named Andromeda in the northern hemisphere sky.

Previously considered as lost, the captioned sculpture, recently been identified as the Andromeda, was originally commissioned by Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena, who died before acquiring it. John Cecil, the 5th Earl of Exeter, also known as the Travelling Earl, found it in Rome and bought the exotic piece of art for Burghley House, his Northamptonshire residence, in the East Midlands of England, where it remained until this century. For a long time, it was believed to be a creation by Pierre-Étienne Monnot, the French-born sculptor.

The glamorous and exquisite Andromeda, thoroughly Roman Baroque in conception and treatment, was once thought to be influenced by Domenico Guidi, the mentor of Monnot. However, today, it is considered to be Guidi’s own work.