Known to be quite beautiful many wanted her but she made a vow to stay celibate as a priestess of Athena but that was until she fell in love. She went against her vow and married Poseidon. Outraged by this, Athena transformed Medusa’s hair into snakes so that who ever looks at her, turns to stone.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio created two Medusa’s, one in 1596 and the other one done a year later showing the exact moment she was killed by Perseus.
Instead of using the emotions on her face like the other artists before him has done before, he created a face of his own, of what he thought she looked like in pain.
Read more about Caravaggio’s Medusa – here.
See more of Caravaggio’s work here.
