Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danaë, is sitting in the foreground, leaning back and looking at the Ethiopian princess Andromeda. He has just freed Andromeda from the monster to which her father, King Cepheus, had sacrificed her in order to save the country. By his side, Perseus has his helmet, his seal and the severed head of the monster Medusa. In addition, he is wearing his winged sandals, which carry him over land and sea. The legend is set in Ethiopia, as is suggested by the presence of African figures. It is unusual in the pictorial art of that time to fine such emphasis on the geographical setting. The motif has been seen as Carstens’ commentary on the discussion of the maintenance of slavery and especially to events in Haiti, which was a French colony at that time and where slavery was abolished in 1794.
