Head of Medusa
c. 1801
Medium
Plaster
Dimensions
31 × 31.8 × 30.5 cm (12 1/4 × 12 9/16 × 12 1/16 in.); With socle: 116.3 × 53.4 × 49.6 cm (45 3/4 × 21 × 19 1/2 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
160236
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova dominated Rome’s artistic scene at the turn of the 19th century. This plaster is a partial model for his large-scale marble statue Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa. According to Greek mythology, Medusa was a serpent-haired creature called a Gorgon whose gaze turned anyone who beheld her into stone. Perseus killed Medusa as she slept by using a mirrored shield to approach her and sever her head, which he continued to carry as a weapon, using it to petrify hi...
About the Artist
Antonio Canova · 1757–1822
Antonio Canova, born on November 1, 1757, in the small town of Possagno in the Republic of Venice, was immersed in sculpture from childhood. His father, Pietro Canova, a stonecutter, died when Antonio was just four, prompting his mother, Angela Zardo Fantolin, to remarry and place him under the care of his paternal grandfather, Pasino Canova. A skilled stonemason and sculptor of late Baroque altar...