Perseus Triumphant
Domenico Marchetti Italian
Intermediary draughtsman Giovanni Tognolli Italian
After Antonio Canova Italian
Not on view
One of the most heroic acts of Perseus, son of Jupiter and the mortal princess Danae, was the beheading of the snake-haired Medusa. In a witty play on the power of the Gorgon's severed head to turn men to stone, Canova's hero looks directly at it and has indeed become marble. The sculptor created his first version of the Perseus, shown here, on his own initiative and in secrecy. In 1801 it was revealed to such acclaim that Pope Pius VII (r. 1800-1823) installed it in the niche formerly occupied by the revered Apollo Belvedere, which had been carried off to France by Napoleon. A visiting Polish countess requested a replica, which Canova completed in 1806. That second version, more fluent and lyrical in its treatment, is now in the Metropolitan Museum (67.110.1).
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