{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O85845"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85845/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KR3420/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KR3420/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018KR3420","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KR3421","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KR3422","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KR3424","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP1404","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AJ7157","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF6473","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF6472","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF6471","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MD3637","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MD3529","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O85845/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O85845","accessionNumber":"A.14-1964","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Head of Medusa","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This rare sketch model was made in preparation for the monumental group of Perseus in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence. It shows the severed head of Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon who turned viewers to stone, held by the hand of the victorious Perseus. The casting of the final group, described by Cellini in his autobiography, was an astonishing technical achievement.\r\nThis expressive head was acquired by John Pope-Hennessy, who recognised its significance as one of the few surviving models by Benvenuto Cellini, the most celebrated of Italian Renaissance sculptor-goldsmiths.","physicalDescription":"Bronze statuette, decapitated head of Medusa with a hand holding the head by the hair.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cellini, Benvenuto","id":"A10567"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Bronze","id":"THES49033"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2018KR3420","2018KR3421","2018KR3422","2018KR3424","2006AP1404","2006AJ7157","2006AF6473","2006AF6472","2006AF6471","2019MD3637","2019MD3529"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"62","id":"THES49739"},"free":"","case":"CA14","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1545-1550","earliest":"1540-01-01","latest":"1550-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"9.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"1.88","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from Mrs. R. Byford, Brighton, for £1750, in 1964.\n\nHistorical significance: This expressive head was acquired by John Pope-Hennessy, who recognised its significance as one of the few surviving models by Benvenuto Cellini, the most celebrated of Italian Renaissance sculptor-goldsmiths. In Greek myth, the Gorgons Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa (the only mortal of the three) were hideous sisters, winged and snake-haired, who turned all who looked at them to stone. Cellini's famed monumental statue of Perseus (currently in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence) shows the hero holding the head of Medusa, with hair of writhing snakes, after he had beheaded the Gorgon with the aid of a reflection in the polished bronze surface of his shield (the gift of the goddess Athena) so as to avoid her deadly gaze.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statuette, bronze, Head of Medusa, by Benvenuto Cellini, Italy, ca.1545-50","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Baker, Malcolm, and Brenda Richardson (eds.), <i>A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>, London: V&A Publications, 1999.","id":"AUTH348910"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John. \"A Sketch-model by Benvenuto Cellini\", <u>Essays on Italian Sculpture</u>, London, 1968, pp. 141-44."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John. <u>Cellini</u>, London, 1985, p. 184."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mariacher, Giovanni. <u>Storia dell' Arte in Italia, La Scultura del Cinquecento</u>, Turin, 1987, p. 187"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cole, M. W., <u>Cellini and the Principles of Sculpture</u>, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 72-73 and figs. 32 & 33."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wittkower, R. <u>Sculpture. Process and Principles</u>, London, 1977, p. 165 and p. 165, fig. 13."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ceppi, Claudia Beltramo, and Nicoletta Confuorto, <u>Firenze e la Toscana dei Medici nell'Europa del Cinquecento</u>, Milan, Electa, 1980."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Luchinat, C.A., et al, <u>The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence</u>, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2002, p. 58."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Medusa","id":"N86"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"hand","id":"x31539"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.14-1964"],"accessionNumberNum":"14","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1964,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Exhibition number","id":"THES288584"},"number":"1 12 (Bronze: European Mannerisms exhibition 1987)"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN8755","2019LR6311","2019LU4582","2019LW3012","2020MP0130"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-30","recordCreationDate":"2003-11-18","availableToBook":false}}