Today i went to the Getty Museum and noticed a particular piece of art that reminded me of the reading for this week! It was a painting done by Ricci of Perseus in battle using his "secret weapon"...Medusa's head. The painting was an image of Perseus holding out the freshly chopped, hideous head toward his enemy, Phineus. The enemy was shielding his face to prevent himself from turning to stone! Around him were fallen soldiers, either enemies that were wounded, or turned to stone. It had a triumphant feel, yet some sort of darkness as well. In the end, Phineus, and his pleading soldiers couldn't escape the stare and were turned to stone. I was drawn to the vivid red color used for Perseus' clothing, and noticed his shade of color was slightly brighter than others, which for me, escalated a feeling of real victory for Perseus.
The image below can be found in our t
extbook in chapter 5(Greek art), page 119. When i originally read on Medusa, i became interested in the story, so i felt really fortunate to be in the presence of the piece at the Getty! This particular relief was found at the Temple of Artemis on the island of Corfu. It is now located in the Archaeological Museum in Corfu. It was carved out of a slab of limestone and was a little over 9 ft. tall! Greek art and mythology is a huge interest of mine, so this story and image easily caught my attention!
Great blog! I like to go the art museums occasionally but never really concentrate on relating them to other works of art that aren't in the same location, so I was really intrigued by your connection of the two works! Not only were they both of the same subject matter, but they both depicted a scene of power and a mythological story.
ReplyDeleteNice! My blog was also related to my museum visit. I totally agree with you on being interested in Greek mythology. All are great stories that are still applied in certain instances of life today. Medusa is a very interesting mythological creature.
ReplyDeleteNice picture! I like Greek art, but I prefer to study Egyptian art. When I was a little child I wanted to become archeologist :), but instead I became artist :). I liked your idea taking about Medusa. I can't stand watching it, some how it scares me a lot :)).
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome how you were able to run into an art piece from the book!
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