Medusa

English

Medusa: Caravaggio

Price: Price on Request
Art Type: Oil Painting
Size:
English Comments: 0
International Comments: 0
Creating Date:
Introduction and Works of Caravaggio >>

Contemporary-Art.org

Reproduction

Enlarge

Keywords: Medusa

Work Overview: Medusa
Italian: Testa di Medusa
Artist Caravaggio
Year 1597
Type Oil on canvas mounted on wood
Dimensions 60 cm × 55 cm (24 in × 22 in)
Location Uffizi, Florence

Caravaggio painted two versions of Medusa, the first in 1596 and the other presumably in 1597.

The first version is also known as Murtula, by the name of the poet who wrote about it, Gaspare Murtola (d. 1624): "Flee, for if your eyes are petrified in amazement, she will turn you to stone."[1] It measures 48 by 55 cm and is signed Michel A F (Latin: Michel Angelo Fecit), "Michel Angelo made [this]", Michelangelo being Caravaggio's first name. This work is privately owned.

The second version, shown here, is slightly bigger (60×55 cm) and is not signed; it is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

In order to appreciate Caravaggio’s painting of Medusa, it is important to know its background. A gorgon is a terrifying female creature in Greek mythology. Medusa was a gorgon with a mane of serpents for hair. She was so repulsive, that whoever looked at her, supposedly turned to stone. Perseus, the Greek hero, was given a shield by the goddess Athena, so that he could avoid looking at her, as he decapitated or beheaded her.

Medusa in Caravaggio’s painting is portrayed at the moment of self-recognition. Realizing that her head and body were no longer one, and that she was still conscious, Caravaggio depicts the horror in her eyes. Medusa is a wonderful example of Caravaggio’s focus on physiognomic, or facial expression in his paintings. Medusa shows an intense level of realism, and Caravaggio uses dark and light contrasts so effectively that Medusa looks three-dimensional.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Caravaggio, from Milan, Italy, was a part of the Baroque art movement. He was commissioned to paint Medusa as a gift for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to be placed in the Medici collection in Florence. Caravaggio was a pioneer in Italian Baroque style, which grew out of the Mannerist art movement. Italian Baroque was very similar to Italian Renaissance, yet the color palette was darker, and richer, and themes of religion were more popular.

Caravaggio was known for his naturalistic, and realistic paintings, termed Baroque realism. He used subjects who directly appealed to human emotions. His many light-to-dark contrasts made the paintings life-like, as if they were almost looking back. Medusa was a special commission for Caravaggio, because it enabled him to compete with Leonardo da Vinci, by submitting his painting to be viewed by the Medici family, as da Vinci did before him.

Medusa: The Second Version
The first version of this painting was named Murtula, after the poet who wrote about it, and was smaller in size. It was signed Michel A.F. (for Michel Angelo Fecit), and is privately owned. Medusa is an oil on canvas painting, mounted on a convex wooden shield. It is 60 x 55 cm. Caravaggio painted Medusa in 1597, and it is unsigned. It is displayed at Galleria degli Uffizi, in Florence, Italy.

In Greek myth, Perseus used the severed snake-haired head of the Gorgon Medusa as a shield with which to turn his enemies to stone. By the sixteenth century Medusa was said to symbolize the triumph of reason over the senses; and this may have been why Cardinal Del Monte commissioned Caravaggio to paint Medusa as the figure on a ceremonial shield presented in 1601 to Ferdinand I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The poet Marino claimed that it symbolized the Duke's courage in defeating his enemies.

As a feat of perspective, the picture is remarkable, for out of the apparently concave surface of the shield - in fact convex- the Gorgon's head seems to project into space, so that the blood round her neck appears to fall on the floor. In terms of its psychology, however, it is less successful. The boy who modelled the face (in preference to a girl) is more embarrassed than terrifying. For once Caravaggio cannot achieve an effect of horror; he was to find in the legends of the martyrs a more powerful stimulus to the dark side of his imagination than classical myth.

Copyright Statement:
All the reproduction of any forms about this work unauthorized by Singing Palette including images, texts and so on will be deemed to be violating the Copyright Laws.
To cite this webpage, please link back here.

>> English Comments >> Chinese Comments >> French Comments >> German Comments >>Report

Caravaggio

Work Overview