Perseus and Andromeda By Giambattista Tiepolo at The Frick Collection

This sketch was made in preparation for the frescoes of one of the ceilings. Commissioned by Carlo Archinto, the elaborate fresco program was probably meant to celebrate the marriage of Archinto's firstborn son, Filippo, to Giulia Borromeo. Carlo Archinto's erudition is reflected in the iconography of his palace's ceilings, which can be challenging to interpret. In Greek mythology, the Ethiopian princess Andromeda was sacrificed to a marine monster because her mother, Cassiopeia, had claimed her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Neptune's daughters. Here, soaring through the clouds on his winged horse, Pegasus, the hero Perseus has just saved Andromeda, unchaining her from the rocks, as the shackles and chains at her ankles tell us. On the left, the Nereids are still crying for the death of the sea monster, killed by Perseus in order to free Andromeda. Jupiter observes the scene from the sky, as Andromeda's mother pleads for mercy. Perseus defeated the terrible creature known as Medusa and returned home with the monster's head as a trophy. While he was flying over North Africa, he encountered the mighty titan Atlas. The titan had been punished by Zeus to hold up the heavenly vault for having opposed the Olympian gods during the Titanomachy, the great war between gods and titans. Perseus stood before Atlas and asked him for shelter in his land. He said he was tired as he had completed the arduous task of defeating Medusa. Atlas doubted that Perseus was capable of such a feat, so he did not want to give shelter to a liar. Perseus, to prove that he spoke the truth, removed Medusa's head from the bag. The hero displayed his trophy to the titan. The latter, looking at the gorgon, began to petrify. He became a huge mountain, whose peak supported the heavens.