Perseus Triumphant

About this artwork

Behold *Perseus Triumphant* (1813), a etching and engraving by Domenico Marchetti, Antonioova, and Giovanni Tognolli, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's of Drawings and Prints. large-scale print (plate measures 24⅞ × 17¹⁵⁄₁₆ inches) captures the mythological hero Perseus in his moment of victory, wielding a dagger and holding aloft a severed head—likely Medusa's—evoking the timeless tale from Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. The collaborative effort highlights Canova, a master of Neoclassicism, whose influence infuses the work with idealized forms and heroic grandeur reminiscent of ancient Greco-Roman sculpture. Created during the Napoleonic era, when Neoclassicism celebrated antiquity's revival amid political upheaval, this print exemplifies reproductive printmaking's power to disseminate elite art to wider audiences. Etching allowed for fluid, expressive lines, while engraving added precise detail and tonal depth, making the composition vivid and monumental despite its two-dimensional medium. Tags like "Daggers," "Heads," and "Perseus" underscore its focus on dramatic attributes of triumph and peril. As an anonymous gift in memory of John Goldsmith Phillips (1993), this piece invites visitors to ponder heroism's enduring allure, bridging classical myth with 19th-century artistry in the Met's vast collection.