Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Antonio Canova

I wonder if his joke was intentional. Antonio Canova made this brilliant sculpture to replace the Apollo Belvedere after Napoleon had stolen it and had taken it to Paris. In the end, he made two of them. That is why you can see one of them in the Vatican museums and the other in the metropolitan in New York. This sculpture shows us Perseus. In Greek mythology Perseus had to cut off the head of Medusa, which was difficult because if you looked at her face, you would turn to stone.
And we know it had that effect even after he severed it from her body. We know this because Perseus used the head several times. Once to defeat a monster that wanted to eat his girlfriend Andromeda and another time to defeat the friends of her fiancee. So usually, when we see this scene, Perseus doesn’t look at her
But here he does look at her, and clearly, he has turned to stone, so…

[@bev9708]

OHHHH so interesting!!!!!! As always Carel!! Yes it does indeed seem like an obvious witticism on Canova's part.

[@storiesofart]

Right?!

[@helenhuydecoper8374]

LOOPIEPOOPIE🤠🤠🤠💩💩💩