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Persée brandissant la tête de Méduse

1804–6
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 548
De 1797 à 1801, Canova s’employa à sculpter une statue de Persée, inspirée de l’Apollon du Belvédère romain, exécuté au IIe siècle apr. J.-C. et conservé aux Musées du Vatican. Persée brandit la tête de Méduse, qu’il a tuée avec le concours de la déesse Minerve. Le pape Pie VII acheta la statue alors qu’elle était encore dans l’atelier de Canova et la fit installer à l’emplacement de l’Apollon du Belvédère qui avait été envoyé quelque temps en France, sur ordre de Napoléon. La version conservée au Metropolitan Museum, commandée peu après par une comtesse polonaise du nom de Waleria Tarnowska, comporte plusieurs variantes. Le Persée de Canova, dans sa svelte majesté, devint un modèle de beauté héroïque néoclassique.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Titre: Persée brandissant la tête de Méduse
  • Artiste: Antonio Canova, Italien, 1757–1822
  • Date: 1804–1806
  • Technique: Marbre
  • Dimensions: H. 242,6 cm
  • Crédits: Fonds Fletcher, 1967
  • Accession Number: 67.110.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Head of Medusa, Antonio Canova Italian, Plaster cast, with modern metal rod, Italian, Rome
Head of Medusa
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Bust of Napoleon, Antonio Canova Italian, White marble (probably Carrara), Italian
Bust of Napoleon
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Drawing after a Lithograph of a Recumbent Lion., Antonio Canova Italian, Brush and black and gray wash, graphite and black chalk
Drawing after a Lithograph of a Recumbent Lion.
Antonio Canova
n.d.
The Vestal, Antonio Canova Italian, Marble, Italian
The Vestal
Antonio Canova
probably ca. 1819–23
Study of a Nude Man in Profile turned to the Right, Antonio Canova Italian, Pen and brown ink over graphite
Study of a Nude Man in Profile turned to the Right
Antonio Canova
n.d.

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