Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, 1594/95. The Greek hero Perseus, traveling home after slaying Medusa, spotted the princess Andromeda chained to a rock. He rescued her from being sacrificed to a sea monster and won her hand in marriage. This painting depicts a version of the ancient myth popularized in sixteenth-century Italy, in which Perseus arrives astride Pegasus, the winged horse born from Medusa¡¦s blood. Small mythological scenes like this made Arpino one of Rome¡¦s most fashionable painters among sophisticated connoisseurs.