In Caravaggio’s 1597 painting Medusa, which Medici ruler was intended to receive the shield?

Caravaggio’s 1597 painting Medusa was intended for Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The image was painted on a ceremonial shield and presents Medusa’s severed head with an extraordinarily expressive face. Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte commissioned it as a gift for Ferdinando I, who ruled Tuscany from 1587 until 1609. The subject suited a princely collection because Perseus’s victory over the Gorgon symbolized courage and the defeat of danger.

Caravaggio’s Medusa is often confused with another version he painted around 1596. Both works are associated with the Medici commission and show the severed head rather than Medusa as a living figure. The later painting is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, while the earlier version is in a private collection.