This Vasari painting depicts the Mythological explanation of the origin of coral. During the Renaissance they were in the midst of huge new scientific discoveries, but hadn't worked their way round to marine organisms yet and so still relied heavily upon mythology. The story goes that after the beheading of Medusa, the blood from her head ran into water and immediately became the spidery veins of coral that exist today. Obviously a much better explanation than the scientific one.
'Perseus and Andromeda' 1570 by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
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