Perseus - New York City, NY
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 40° 46.762 W 073° 57.762
18T E 587529 N 4514782
This sculpture is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Waymark Code: WMPGK8
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 08/28/2015
Views: 4
There is no charge to visit the Museum. It depicts a nude Perseus holding the head of Medusa.
The Museum's website (
visit link) provides more information about this sculpture:
"Perseus with the Head of Medusa
Artist: Antonio Canova (Italian, Possagno 1757–1822 Venice)
Patron: Commissioned by Count Jan and Countess Valeria Tarnowski (Dzików, Poland)
Date: 1804–6
Culture: Italian, Rome
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): H. 95 1/2 x W. 75 1/2 x D. 40 1/2 in. (242.6 x 191.8 x 102.9 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1967
Accession Number: 67.110.1
On view in Gallery 548
This Perseus, purchased by Countess Valeria Tarnowska of Poland, is a replica of Canova's famed marble of Perseus in the Vatican, conceived about 1790 and first shown in 1801. Based freely on the Apollo Belvedere, which had been carried off to Paris under Napoleon, it was bought by Pope Pius VII and placed upon the pedestal where the Apollo had formerly stood. In the Museum's version, Canova has refined the ornamental details and aimed for a more lyrical effect than in the Vatican Perseus, a stylistic streamlining characteristic of his artistic process. Medusa's head is based on that of the antique "Rondanini Medusa.'"
and Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"In Greek mythology, Perseus ..., the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans, was the first hero. His exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians. Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Perseus was the son of the mortal Danaë and the god Zeus. He was also the great grandfather of Heracles, also a son of Zeus."