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The Head of Medusa
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Painting by Caravaggio showing the severed head of Medusa with a shocked expression, snakes for hair, and blood dripping from the neck, mounted on a round wooden shield.
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Caravaggio: Head of the Medusa
Caravaggio: Head of the Medusa Head of the Medusa, by Caravaggio, c. 1598, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

The Head of Medusa

painting by Caravaggio
Written by
William Davies
William Davies is a London-based writer and researcher who studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art and served as a press coordinator for the opening of White Cube’s Mason’s Yard space. ​His work appears...
William Davies
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

The Head of Medusa, oil painting on canvas mounted on a wooden shield that was created about 1597 by Italian artist Caravaggio. It depicts the moment from Greek mythology in which the Gorgon Medusa is beheaded by Perseus.

The Head of Medusa was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, an agent of Medici family in Rome and a patron and benefactor of Caravaggio, and was given to Ferdinand I de’ Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany. For its subject, Caravaggio drew on the myth of Medusa, a woman with snakes for hair who turned people to stone by looking at them. According to the story, Perseus was able to kill her because he avoided direct eye contact by using a mirrored shield that Athena had given him. After Medusa’s death, her decapitated head continued to petrify those who looked at it.

The Head of Medusa is painted on a convex shield that represents the mirrored shield of Athena. Caravaggio used his own visage for Medusa’s face, looking at his reflection as he worked to create the illusion of Medusa catching her own image moments before being killed. Although Caravaggio depicts Medusa’s severed head, she remains conscious. Her wide-open mouth appears to be screaming, and her eyes and furrowed brow express shock and horror, suggesting a sense of disbelief. But Caravaggio saves the viewer from the power of Medusa’s direct gaze, since she looks downward. The ghastliness of the scene is nearly palpable, however, as the snakes writhe about her head and blood gushes from her severed neck. Caravaggio displays huge technical achievements in this work by making a convex surface look concave and Medusa’s head appear to project outward.

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