The Release of Andromeda

Within Willmann’s works, a mythological theme is not quite common. The story of Princess Andromeda, who voluntarily sacrificed herself to a sea monster, is based on Ovid´s Metamorphoses (Book IV). Willmann captured the moment, when the bound Andromeda is being freed by Perseus coming on a winged horse Pegasus. Andromeda has tears on her cheeks - the painter followed Ovid’s text, “... She seemed a statue by a hand divine, Had not the wind her waving tresses show’d, And down her cheeks her melting sorrows flow’d ...” The firm and voluptuous body of the Princess is evidently based on the type of female figures depicted by Peter Paul Rubens, whose works Willmann got to know in Antwerp. The pastel tones of colours, particularly the pink and greyish blue, with several layers of glaze (top translucent paint layer) point to the influence of this Flemish painter. Willmann’s canvas probably arrived in Prague through the contacts of the Silesian and Bohemian branches of the Nostitz family.