Greece is known for its amazing ability to make highly detailed, overly idealized sculptures. They have been known throughout history as the leaders in sculptural art and created the basis of what most any sculptor has ever learned. The Romans when they took over Greece learned the techniques and perfected them to make more realistic sculptures of people to the point of including liver spots and wrinkles. What I have found to be the most amazing part about Greek sculpture was that regardless of the subject matter the figures were always beautiful, always looked clean, and always had the perfect body and hair. These sculptures I have picked out of the many are the ones I feel embody most what it is the Greeks were after in their endeavors to portray intense emotion while still having the completely ideal body and face. These sculptures were all created between 1545 and 1903 and are some of the most popular sculptures of this story we have today.
This first sculpture is the oldest of the bunch; it was created in 1545 by Benvenuto Cellini. He worked on this statue for nearly ten years; it is eighteen feet tall and made of bronze. Blood is gushing from the neck where Medusa’s head has been removed and her body is atop a pedestal showing smaller sculptures of Perseus life before this quest. The base is made of marble and hold smaller scale sculptures of Danae and Zeus in its little alcoves. This statue was made in the mannerist form which means it is highly detailed and rather grotesque; however, people don’t see it as such. This sculpture is remarkably beautiful and was just restored about eleven years ago. It has been sitting outside in Florence, Italy since it’s unveiling and was covered in bird droppings and horrible beatings from the weather. This statue is most definitely holding true to the ancient ideals of a perfect body, face, and accomplishment of a heroic task.
This sculpture was created by Antonio Canova around 1800 by command of Pope Pius VII and is made of marble. The original sculpture is in the Vatican but there is a copy as close as New York City, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you can view this. There are copies of this statue all over the world and it’s not hard to see why people would want to have it in either their private collections or museums would want to have a version of it to show to guests.
This statue was made because when Napoleon invaded he took with him the statue of Apollo Belvedere which looked like this:
Napoleon took this from the Vatican and Canova was commanded to make a replacement. This statue of Perseus is in the exact same pose as the Apollo Belvedere and stands on the same pedestal that the Apollo had once been on. This statue takes a more soft body approach to Perseus. He has muscle definition and you can still tell he is strong, but there is youthfulness to his physique. There are no hard defining lines and he looks more around the age of 16-18 which is when the story takes place. The soft quality of the sculpture reminds me of the beginning of the more refined Greek sculpture; Kritios Boy for example, was a young man who had the same youthful features of the body and face as this version of Perseus. Both have the short, wavy locks of hair and are in poses of motion. This is a direct reference to the Greek culture upon which the legend of Perseus and Medusa comes from and the beginning of sculpture itself.
Of all the statues I have found of Perseus and Medusa this next one if my favorite. The pose, the emotion and the way the Helm of Hades/Nymph hat is depicted makes me laugh. This statue was created by Laurent-Honoré Marqueste around the turn of the century; I have found conflicting accounts that say it was sculpted in 1900 and 1903, and it is made of white marble.
This sculpture is amazing. The motion and tension that goes between the two figures can be felt in simply looking at a photograph of the sculpture. What truly makes this statue though is its inclusion of the body of Medusa and shows Perseus in the act off attacking her and killing her. You can see the fear in both their eyes; Medusa writhes trying to break free and turn him to stone but he will have her head off before she has a chance. Perseus has a very wild look in his eye, he seems almost like he wants to take this life, like she deserves to be beheaded. This sculpture leads to more telling of the story and makes more of a conversation piece, only half the story is told and unless you know the story you’re not sure what will happen other than what the title gives away. The bodies are soft, not defined with rippling abs and pectoral muscles, which I think is more appropriate because Perseus was not an older man, he was a boy and for him to have that much muscle definition is just ridiculous. I also love the way the Helm of Hades was created, the wings on this side are overly pronounced and stick out like the ears of a lamb or a bunny. This is funny because the rest of the sculpture is morbidly disturbing and then you see the helm and it suddenly becomes somewhat lighter.
http://venusinthefifth.tumblr.com/post/6390705289/perseus-slaying-medusa-by-laurent-honore-marqueste
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kadanwa/3105457643/
http://www.bonannocoins.com/blog/index.html/4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Belvedere
http://jssgallery.org/other_artists/benvenuto_cellini/photo_cellni_bronze_statue_perseus_beheading_medusa.htm
http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-perseus-and-medusa/
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/PerseusLaurentHMarqueste.html
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