A very fine and sensuous bronze of Andromeda, naked and chained to a rock. Superb patination to the very fine quality bronze. Beautifully modelled and well executed. Signed on the reverse. Alexandre-Pierre Schoenewerk born in Paris in 1820 he died in 1885. Very fashionable sculptor who studied under d'Angers, Jolliet and Triqueti and exhibited at The Salon from 1842 to 1885, he also enjoyed the patronage of Princess Mathilde. He became a Chevalier of the Legiond'Honneur in 1863 and was very fashionable among Paris society during the Second Empire and the beginning of the Third republic. Andromeda features in the myth of Perseus and the slaying of Medusa. On his way back from completing his vitory against the Gorgons Perseus chanced upon Andromeda chained to a rock and about to be sacrificed to a sea monster. The Queen Cassiopeia had boasted that her daughters were more beautiful than the Nereids, the daughters of Poseidon. In a rage at this insult to his daughters Poseidon sent floods to the lands ruled by Cassiopeia and her husband, King Cepheus. An oracle told Cepheus that only the sacrifice of his daughter would satisfy Poseidon. It was fortunate that Perseus arrived in time to slay the sea monster and save the Princess. 20 inches high by 9 inches wide by 10 inches deep ( 50 cms by 27.5 cms by 25 cms).