Medusa

c. 1595–98

Oil on canvas mounted on a wooden shield · Uffizi Gallery, Florence

A real parade shield painted with the severed head of Medusa. Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte gave it to Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici in 1598.

Medusa screams with eyes wide, caught between life and death at the moment of beheading.
Snakes writhe around her head and blood streams from the neck.
Kept in the Medici armoury, first without a name; listed as Caravaggio’s in 1631 and shown with a suit of Persian armour.
The Medici used the Medusa head as an emblem of power; the shield also recalls the shield Perseus used to see her safely.

Medusa’s gaze turned people to stone. Perseus cut off her head by watching her reflection in a polished shield, and Athena later set the head on her own shield.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0