Medusa Set – Notebook And Eraser

Set made of th notebook and eraser personalized with the Medusa subject.

Probably made at the request of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, representative of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Rome, it was donated to the Grand Duke Ferdinando I de ‘Medici, who in those years was setting up his private armor suite at the Uffizi Gallery.
The choice to paint the freshly cut head of the Gorgon on a convex support seems not to have been dictated only by the need to create a work destined to coexist with weapons and armor, but by Caravaggio’s desire to recall the original myth as much as possible. In the story, in fact, the head of Medusa is exhibited by the hero Perseus on her shield, a trophy that would have had the purpose of instilling horror in his enemies, and subsequently given to the goddess Athena who would have shown it on her Aegis.
The crazy gaze, the jet of blood at the base of the neck and the wriggling of snakes in the hair make one imagine that it is almost a photograph taken a few moments after take-off. The particular curved shape of the support not only makes the work an encounter between painting and sculpture, but makes the eyes of the medusa, seat of her power, follow the observer.