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Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Art treatments & subjects > Iconography, subjects depicted in art > Human figures depicted in art > General
Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus and Medusa, one of Renaissance Italy's
most complex sculptures, is the subject of this study, which
proposes that the statue's androgynous appearance is paradoxical.
Symbolizing the male ruler overcoming a female adversary, the
Perseus legitimizes patriarchal power; but the physical similarity
between Cellini's characters suggests the hero rose through female
agency. Dr. Corretti argues that although not a surrogate for
powerful Medici women, Cellini's Medusa may have reminded viewers
that Cosimo I de' Medici's power stemmed in part from maternal
influence. Drawing upon a vast body of art and literature, Dr.
Corretti concludes that Cellini and his contemporaries knew the
Gorgon as a version of the Earth Mother, whose image is found in
art for Medici women.
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