Benvenuto Cellini created the bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria.
Cellini’s monumental bronze, completed in the 1540s, shows Perseus standing over Medusa’s body while holding her severed head aloft. It was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici and placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi, a prominent public space beside the Palazzo Vecchio. The sculpture became a powerful Medici statement about order overcoming danger and political opposition.
The work is notable for its technical ambition, including its large-scale bronze casting. Cellini also wrote an autobiography that describes aspects of the commission and the casting process. The statue is distinct from Caravaggio’s painted Medusa: Caravaggio presents the head on a shield, whereas Cellini depicts the entire victorious Perseus figure.