Benvenuto Cellini created the bronze statue Perseus with the Head of Medusa in Florence’s Loggia dei Lanzi.
Cellini’s monumental bronze presents Perseus standing over Medusa’s body while holding her severed head aloft. The sculpture was commissioned for the Medici family and became one of the best-known public works in Florence. Its subject comes from the classical myth in which Perseus defeats Medusa without looking directly at her.
The work was cast in bronze during the sixteenth century and displays Cellini’s interest in complex poses, polished surfaces, and dramatic storytelling. Its placement in a public loggia made the myth visible within a civic and political setting, not only inside a private collection.
The statue is often confused with later sculptures of Perseus by other artists. Cellini’s work is identifiable by its bronze medium, its Florentine location, and the famous raised head of Medusa.