Standbeeld van Perseus

About this artwork

Gift of the Ministerie van Onderwijs, Kunsten en Wetenschappen

Art Historical Context

**Standbeeld van Perseus** is a finely detailed engraving by Friedrich Wilhelm Burmeister, created in 1863. This work captures a statue of Perseus, the mythological Greek hero famed for slaying Medusa and rescuing Andromeda. Measuring 399 mm high by 252 mm wide, the print exemplifies 19th-century fascination with classical antiquity, a period when artists and scholars revived ancient myths to celebrate human triumph and heroism amid Europe's Romantic and neoclassical movements. Burmeister's mastery of engraving—a meticulous intaglio technique involving incised lines on a metal plate—allowed f...