Perseus Starting from the Cave of the Gorgons
c. 1816
Medium
Oil and oil wash, over graphite and with touches of pen and black ink, on tan laid paper, laid down on off-white Japanese paper
Dimensions
55.2 × 67.6 cm (21 3/4 × 26 5/8 in.)
Classification
gouache
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61546
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Fuseli’s unfinished painting depicts the ancient Greek hero Perseus, son of Zeus, a demigod who slew Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon whose glance turned men to stone. On the ground lies the decapitated body of Medusa, above which the airborne Perseus flees with her head, which retained its deadly power. Medusa’s two sisters, at right, unsuccessfully attempt to stop Perseus. The painting’s source was the ancient Greek poet Hesiod’s the Shield of Heracles (translated into English in 1815), an ima...
About the Artist
Henry Fuseli · 1741–1825
Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), born Johann Heinrich Füssli in Zürich, was a Swiss-British painter whose visionary works exploring dreams, nightmares, and psychological terror made him one of the most original figures of the Romantic movement. His art bridged Neoclassical discipline with Romantic emotionalism, creating images of supernatural intensity that would influence artists from William Blake to t...