Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Heroes and Troy

Benvenuto Cellini

Perseus with the Head of Medusa

1545–54

Bronze, statue over 3 m high · Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence

Commissioned by Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1545 for the Loggia dei Lanzi on Florence’s main square, beside Donatello’s Judith. It was unveiled in April 1554 and read as the triumph of the duke over the old republic.

  • Cast in separate pieces and joined; the dramatic pour Cellini describes in his autobiography was the Perseus figure.
  • Blood pours from Medusa’s neck in bronze; Perseus holds the head high.
  • Cellini signed it on the strap across Perseus’s chest.
  • The original marble base and its statuettes are now in the Bargello; copies stand in the Loggia.

Perseus, son of Zeus and Danaë, killed Medusa with gifts from the gods: winged sandals, a cap of invisibility and a curved sword.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0

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