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Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini Perseus with the Head of Medusa, in the Loggia dei Lanzi, FlorencePerseus with the Head of Medusa is a bronze sculpture made by Benvenuto Cellini in the period 1545–1554. The sculpture stands on a square base which has bronze relief panels depicting the story of Perseus and Andromeda, similar to a predella on an altarpiece.[1] It is located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. The second Florentine duke, Cosimo I de' Medici, commissioned the work with specific political connections to the other sculptural works in the piazza. When the piece was revealed to the public on 27 April 1554, Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes were already installed in the piazza.[2]
The subject matter of the work is the mythological story of Perseus beheading Medusa, a hideous woman-faced Gorgon whose hair had been turned to snakes; anyone who looked at her was turned to stone. Perseus stands naked except for a sash and winged sandals, triumphant on top of the body of Medusa with her head, crowned with writhing snakes, in his raised hand. Blood spews from Medusa's severed neck. The bronze sculpture, in which Medusa's head turns men to stone, is appropriately surrounded by three huge marble statues of men: Hercules, David, and later Neptune.[2] Cellini's use of bronze in Perseus and the head of Medusa, and the motifs he used to respond to the previous sculpture in the piazza, were highly innovative. Examining the sculpture from the back, one can see a self-portrait of the sculptor Cellini on the back of Perseus' helmet.
Background
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Cellini was the first to integrate narrative relief into the sculpture of the piazza.[4] As the Perseus was installed in the Loggia, it dominated the dimensions of later pedestals of other sculptural works within the Loggia, like Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine Women.[5] Perseus added to the cast of Olympian gods protecting the Medici.[6] Weil-Garris also focuses on the pedestal beneath the sculpture in the round. However, the present pedestal may not have been Cellini's original intent, as the relief was still being worked on and installed when the bronze sculpture above had already been revealed.[7] The Medici still dominated the theme of the pedestal as Perseus in the pedestal is an allegory for Duke Francesco Medici.[8]
The base of the sculpture, Perseus' feet on the slain Medusa's headless corpseThe politics of the Medici and Florence dominate the Piazza della Signoria, specifically making reference to the first three Florentine dukes. Duke Alessandro I was the first Florentine duke, and Hercules and Cacus was revealed during his time, meeting with a terrible reception by the public in 1534.[9] The next sculpture to be revealed was Cellini's Perseus and Cosimo I was very cautious about the public's reaction to the piece.[9] Fortunately, the public received the sculpture well, as Cosimo watched the reception from a window in the Palazzo Vecchio.[4] The third duke is directly related to the sculpture's relief panel on the base as the Perseus can be seen as a symbol for Duke Francesco and Andromeda as his Habsburg bride, Giovanna.[10] Similarly, Andromeda acts as an allegory for Florence, while Perseus is the collective Medici swooping down to save the city.[11] Cellini chose to represent the sad side of the story of Andromeda; however, he created a focus on the Medici, like Perseus, saving the unsmiling Andromeda.[12] Every sculpture in the piazza can be seen as politically or artistically related to one another and to the Medici.
The work
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At the time the sculpture was created, bronze had not been used in almost half a century for a monumental work of art. Cellini made the conscious decision to work in this medium because by pouring molten metal into his cast, he was vivifying the sculpture with life-giving blood.[13] The most difficult part would be completing the entire cast all at once. Donatello's Judith and Holofernes was already placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the westernmost arch.[14] Judith had been cast in bronze, but in several sections joined together.[15] Cellini was competing against monumental works of marble sculpture like Michelangelo's David and wanted to make a statement for himself and his patron, Cosimo I.
Michael Cole specifically draws attention to the process of casting the Perseus. Citing Cellini's Vita, Cole notes how Cellini's assistants let the metal clot, and had Cellini not been present the work would have been destroyed.[16] Cole then asserts that Cellini goes beyond reviving the work but raised the dead, in which he means that Cellini's salvation was remelting the bronze.[17] Cellini also invokes Christ and by doing so he breathes life into the sculpture.[18] Casting the Perseus was more than meeting the demand of Cosimo I; Cellini was proving himself to Florence in a newly refurbished medium.
Perseus was one of Cellini's crowning works, completed with two different ideas in mind. He wanted to respond to the sculpture already placed within the piazza, which he did with the subject matter of Medusa reducing men to stone. Secondly, the Medici were represented by Perseus, both in the round sculpture and the relief below. Moreover, in that respect, Cellini also made a statement for himself in the actual casting of Perseus. Cellini breathed life into his new sculpture through his use of bronze and he asserted Medici control over the Florentine people through the Perseus motif.
A bronze cast of the sculpture was made in the early 19th Century and installed at Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, England around 1840, where it is now a Grade II* listed structure.[19][20]
Depictions by other artists
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See also
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Notes
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References
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Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus and the Head of Medusa is a sculpture that is commonly overlooked. In fact, it could be the most regularly overlooked work of art in the world. Regarded by art historians as one of the masterpieces of 16th-century Florentine art, it has all the hallmarks not just of a great work of art, but that of a fantastic and uniquely Florentine story, too.
Standing in Florence’s Loggia dei Lanzi on the famous Piazza della Signoria in Florence, rich with some of the world’s most famous sculptures by Italian masters, including Michelangelo’s David, Baccio Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes, and Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The latter stands opposite Michelangelo’s David (now a copy, with the original located in the nearby Galleria dell’Accademia), as the millions of selfie-stick wielding tourists snap themselves with the famous crack-shot shepherd, if only they’d turn around and look.
The dark, foreboding, and bloody bronze of the Greek hero Perseus is carrying the severed head of the gorgon Medusa. Once you get to know a little of Cellini, you will realize its position opposite David is paramount. It’s all part of Cellini’s shadow play, and just one example of the multi-layered story of this amazing sculpture and the man who made it.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was a Florentine goldsmith, sculptor, and author. In his lifetime, he earned a reputation of a troubled, wild, and vain genius. Fun fact is that Cellini died exactly in the same year when Caravaggio was born, another complicated figure in art history with an affinity for alcohol and brawls.
Cellini is considered the greatest goldsmith of his time. Even Michelangelo described him as “the greatest goldsmith of whom we have ever heard.“ For Cellini, though, this was not enough. e wanted to be treated on the same level as Michelangelo.
Although, Cellini was a prolific artist and his genius was clear, what also characterized him were his run-ins with the law. He was repeatedly prosecuted for sodomy, theft, and even murder.
The only extant work of precious metal that can be now attributed to Cellini is the famous Saliera located in Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
In true Mannerist style, Cellini takes us on a trip to ancient Greece and the story of how the hero Perseus, depicted by Cellini with winged sandals from Hermes, satchel gifted by Athena, met and slayed (without directly facing) the infamous gorgon, Medusa. Cellini presents his bronze statue in all of its macabre glory, complete with gushing blood from the severed head he holds, and from the writhing body on which he stands.
Central to the story of the statue is the daring feat and technique Cellini employed, casting the whole sculpture from a single piece of bronze, something rarely done, particularly with a sculpture of such complexity. Though Cellini was competing against monumental works such as that of Michelangelo’s David, he wanted to set himself apart, and win his place in Florentine greatness.
The story goes that as the bronze was being cast in Cellini’s workshop, a now elderly and ill Cellini lay incapacitated on his sickbed. A storm broke, and in the cool of the night, Cellini’s assistants failed to keep on top of things and the metal began to clot as it cooled. Cellini jumped from his near-deathbed, shouting and ordering everything possible to be slung into the fire to raise the heat. Just in time, the heat started to rise, and the sculpture was saved. Cellini likened this revival to raising the dead, not only meaning the saving of the great work of art but also the salvation of Cellini himself.
As with most famous artworks, Perseus with the Head of Medusa is surrounded by politics. It was commissioned by the great Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1545, a great artistic patron and advocate of culture, science, and philosophy. Perseus represented the power of Cosimo I who cut off the “head of the Republic.” All very symbolic and political, celebrating the control of the Medici over the Florentine people through the mythological hero.
Though perhaps the most interesting part is the interplay Cellini mastered between his new statue and those of the great masters surrounding it on Piazza della Signoria. Presented on the square in 1554, Cellini’s masterstroke was Perseus holding up the head of the gorgon, which in mythology turned unfortunate viewers to stone. And who was it that stood opposite, sculpted in stone? The famous David, of course. Cellini’s Medusa had even reduced the greatest sculptor’s work, giving life to his own in bronze.
Unlike much of Florence’s great masterpieces, tucked away in the manicured halls of the Uffizi or Galleria dell’Accademia, Cellini’s work is out in the open for all to admire. It’s a true privilege and a spine-tingling experience to enter the Piazza della Signoria and explore the statue, revealing itself to you as you walk around it, each angle showing something new, asking a new question of the viewer.
Each time you feel you’ve seen it, its essence once again escapes you, leaving only more questions. To me, it is one of the most enigmatic and greatest works of art of the Renaissance, not only for its endless beauty and intrigue but also because of its truly Florentine story of politics, intrigues, and of course, great beauty.
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