With enormous Odyssean statue groups the grotto at Sperlonga is a treasure trove of splashy (pun intended) imperial sculpture commissioned by those with a penchant for Hellenistic flair.
This beauty can get lost in the shuffle: she is Andromeda, the Aethiopian princess chained to a rocky promontory as a human sacrifice by her parents to sate the appetite of the fearsome sea-creature Cetus and eventually rescued by Perseus on his victory lap from decapitating Medusa.
And what could be better positioning for this stone maiden than the rocky crag over Tiberius’s famous coastal grotto? And the armlets on her slender white wrists seem to indicate she was theatrically sited there, chained to the cliffs exposed to the elements and marauding sea monsters.
The striking dark grey of her garment and creamy white flesh brings to mind the famed two-tone stone from the Göktepe quarries near Aphrodisias. Would love to hear more learned (I’m out of date!) thoughts on the stone type and possible Aphrodisian origins of marble or sculptors.
