![]() ![]() He even sketched severed body parts in order to make the image as authentic as possible. Géricault paid great attention to the details in this work. The sail of the raft is billowing in the wind while being tossed about a choppy ocean beneath a stormy sky. The only African figure on the raft waves a cloth at the top of a pile of a few men who are struggling to get the attention of a ship in the distance (located on the far right of the horizon line). ![]() 102, (1971), pp.The epic painting The Raft of the Medusa features a gruesome mass of figures afloat at sea, some dead, some struggling for life, in a tangled mass positioned on a crudely-made raft. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. Source: "Perseus' Battle with the Gorgons," by Edward Phinney Jr. The invisibility cap hid Perseus so he could escape pursuit by the two remaining, immortal Gorgon sisters, Stheno and Euryale, who woke up when Perseus slew their sister. He then grabbed the head of Medusa by the hair as shown in this statue, still averting his eyes. He had to work backward (mirror-image) to avoid accidentally meeting the death-ray eyes of Medusa. He used the sword to cut while he looked into the mirror, which Athena may have held. Perseus needed the pouch to hold the head. Stygian nymphs gave Perseus a pouch, winged sandals, and Hades' cap of invisibility. Perseus used a sword to decapitate Medusa while avoiding her death-dealing eyes by looking in a mirrored shield. Statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, at Piazza della Signoria, Florence - (bronze sculpture) by Benvenuto Cellini (1554). Sometimes snakes are wrapped around her waist. In this Gorgon, the hair is wild and possibly serpentine. Of the three, Stheno (the Mighty), Euryale (the Far Springer), and Medusa (the Queen), only Medusa was mortal. The Gorgon, a single monster for Homer, but three daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his sister Ceto, were shown with wings and goofy-looking or grotesque grinning faces with tongues sticking out. The image above is of an an Attic black-figure neck-amphora, c. "Perseus' Battle with the Gorgons," by Edward Phinney Jr.Medusa may represent an ancient mother-goddess. The story of Perseus and Medusa may come from Mesopotamian hero-demon struggles. From Medusa's severed neck sprang the winged horses Pegasus and Chrysaor. He cut off her head, with the help of gifts from Hades (via the Stygian nymphs), Athena, and Hermes. The mythological Greek hero Perseus performed a service to mankind by ridding the world of her fearsome power. Medusa is the mortal one of the three Gorgon sisters and is often called Gorgon Medusa. Slithering, venomous snakes replaced the hair on Medusa's head. Athena made her so hideous one look at her face could turn a mortal to stone (lithify). Courtesy of Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.Īlthough painted more in art than story, in Greek mythology Medusa is a once-beautiful woman whose name became synonymous with terrifying. ![]()
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