Painted by Caravaggio around 1597 for Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici, this gruesome tondo transforms a round wooden jousting shield into a trompe-l'œil snapshot of the severed head of Medusa at the instant Perseus has struck. Against a black ground the Gorgon screams with mouth open, serpents writhing in place of hair, and arterial blood still pumping from the neck — an early-Baroque pyrotechnic display of illusionism. At once weapon and status-object, it was a showpiece in the Medici's self-fashioning as both military and artistic patrons.

Exhibition Venue

Galleria degli Uffizi

Florence, Italy