Perseus in the Garden of the Hesperides 1628

Cherubino Alberti made this engraving, "Perseus in the Garden of the Hesperides," in Rome, sometime around 1600. In it we see the classical hero Perseus, in the mythical garden, a space laden with cultural meaning in Renaissance Europe. The image creates meaning through classical visual codes and cultural references. The story of Perseus was enormously popular, and the Hesperides garden represented paradise, youth, and beauty, but also inconstancy and temptation. Alberti was working at a time when the Vatican and other powerful institutions wielded enormous cultural influence through art patronage. This print was dedicated to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who was the papal nephew of Pope Urban VIII. To better understand this engraving, we can research the Barberini family’s influence and art patronage, as well as contemporary interpretations of classical mythology. In doing so, we see how art’s meaning is always contingent on social and institutional contexts.