Perseus Triumphant

The young man holds up a severed head. He is Perseus, the hero who killed Medusa in Greek myth. His winged cap, sandals and sword belong to the story. Antonio Canova carved this marble between late 1800 and early 1801, many centuries after the ancient statues around it. Look at the poised stance, then compare it with Apollo Belvedere. Canova used the ancient figure's proportions and pose as a point of reference. The comparison also has a history in this courtyard. Pope Pius VII bought Perseus and placed it on Apollo's pedestal while the older statue was in France. A new sculpture occupied a place left empty by the removal of an antique. That temporary substitution gave visitors two ways to read Canova's work. Perseus carries a different myth, with Medusa's head held aloft, while his body recalls a statue already familiar from the papal collection. His date belongs to the nineteenth century even though the subject and pose reach back to antiquity.