Perseus und Medusa, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on vellum, 32,8 x 40,5 cm, browned, somewhat stained, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae, was invited by Polydectes, the tyrant of Seriphos to kill Medusa, who was the only mortal among the three Gorgons. Polydectes believed in Perseus’s death. However Perseus succeeded in overcoming Medusa while she was sleeping. He decapitated her with the aid of the helmet of Pluto and the shield of Minerva which made him invisible. The reflecting shield protected him against the deadly gaze of Medusa, which may have turned him to stone. The Perseus myth was reported by Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and in the Biblioteca (II, 4, 2) by the Pseudo Apollodoro. In our drawing Pluto and Minerva are also present. In the earlier legends by Homer and Hesiod Perseus’s hand is guided by Minerva; in the present drawing however, Minerva is only holding the shield, Persaus is killing Medusa without any physical help.
The drawing goes back to one of the lunette frescoes by Annibale Carracci in the Camerino of Odoardo Farnese in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The sheet may have been executed some 20 years later than the fresco. Compared to the fresco the drawing is sketchier at the left hand side of the composition and the story is depicted more compact and the main figures with their robust appearance and their dark shades have received more emphasis. The style points to an artist from the circle of Annibale and Lodovico Carracci. For 20 years the frescoes in the Camerino and in the Galleria in the Palazzo Farnese belonged to the integral formation for artists who wanted to tie up with the new direction of style introduced by the Carracci. The frescoes were of utmost significance and served for the continuation of the newly founded classicist manner in Bolognese painting.