This cast of a bronze bas-relief formed a significant part of Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus and Medusa, the sculptural ensemble that has occupied the east arcade of the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence's Piazza dell aSignoria since it was unveiled in 1554. The depiction of Perseus Liberating Andromeda was Celeni's final cotribution to his public masterwork and may be considered the finishing touch to monumental statuary group supported by an elaborate base or pedestal. The relief was not cast until 1552, whereas Medusa and the colossal Perseus were cast in June of 1548 and during the winter of 1549, respctively. Although Perseus and Medusa's white marble base was designed but not actually carved by Celleini, the smaller bronze statues in its four niches are entirely his work, and date to April of 1552. 

Like an open book, the relief's narrative splits down the middle into different pages, which, despite the semblance of unity, refer to two chronolagically distinct but contiguous Ovidian passages. First, on the left-hand side, Perseus plunges earthward to save Andromeda from the monster as, on the facing side, the anger of her fiance and his men gathers momentum, heralding the battle to come. The relief's later date, bookish character and differing form (relief) and genre (narrative) suggest that it functions as a commentary or gloss on the Perseus, one analogous to that afforded by Cellini's autobiography, the Vita (1558-66) or his treatises on the arts, the Trattati (1565-67). The expansion of Cellini's artistic practice into the literary domains of narration and art theory is symptomatic of the phase of his career following the completion of his major work of sculpture, the Perseus and Medusa.