Head of Medusa
Not on view
Medusa was the Gorgon slain by Perseus, who presented her head crawling with serpents to the all-wise Minerva to wear on her shield. Medusa’s grisly yet mesmerizing countenance is encountered often on cameos, apparently as an advertisement of Minerva’s ability to ward off evil (see also 17.190.869 and 2003.431). This expressive example has been attributed both to the sixteenth century and to the nineteenth, but its robust, propulsive style and peculiar coloring, utilizing the top stratum’s brown to accent a snake and green flecks to create eerie effects against the pale cream body, may have been more thoroughly at home in the age of the Baroque.
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