Medusa

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1597

Oil on canvas mounted on a poplar shield, 60 × 55 cm

Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Room I · The Early Years (c. 1592–1597)

Medusa, Caravaggio, c. 1597 — Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The Gorgon's head at the instant Perseus has cut it off, painted on a convex parade shield so that it seems flat. Cardinal del Monte had it made as a gift for Ferdinando I de' Medici; the screaming face is thought to be the painter's own.