Medusa

The severed head of Medusa shrieks at the instant of death, blood jetting from the neck, the snakes of her hair still writhing - all painted on a round, convex parade shield so that the surface bulges toward you. Caravaggio stages the Gorgon's own horror at her reflected face, the trick of the mirrored shield from the Perseus myth turned into a piece of Baroque shock. Made as a showpiece gift for the Medici and now in the Uffizi, it fuses classical learning with visceral, almost cinematic violence.