Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640)
Head of Medusa
c.1613
Oil on canvas, 68.5 × 118 × 2 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Perseus cunningly killed the snake-haired Medusa, who had petrified man and animal with her gaze (Ovid, Metamorphoses). The blood dripping from her severed head turned into snakes. In the time of Rubens, the depiction was understood politically or allegorically as a sign of the victory of Stoic reason over the enemies of virtue. The drastic description with the wide-open, bulging, bloodshot eyes was written by Rubens himself, in collaboration with his workshop, and the creature was attributed to the specialist Frans Snyders. (KHM)
See also:
• Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD): The Metamorphoses (English)