Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Perseus stands in triumph, his weight poised and elegant, raising the severed snake-haired head of Medusa in one hand and lowering his curved sword in the other. Antonio Canova modeled the hero on the famous Apollo Belvedere, giving the slayer the cool, idealized perfection of an ancient god. Now in the Metropolitan Museum, Perseus with the Head of Medusa was so admired that it was placed on the pedestal in the Vatican left empty when Napoleon carried off the Apollo - a modern work judged worthy to stand among the greatest antiquities.