Ludovisi Medusa or Fury
Ludovisi Medusa or Fury
3D
Published 2017-03-17T12:16:27+00:00
This sculpture has been interpreted at various times as a Sleeping Fury or a Medusa. In the Cesi Collection it had been identified as a water nymph and placed on a marble cushion. When it entered the Ludovisi Collection, the left side of the face was cut horizontally to improve the stability of the piece.
The head, probably part of a large high-relief, is now believed to be a 3nd-century Roman copy of a Hellenistic work, perhaps a wounded Amazon.
This deep relief shows a wild-haired woman in profile with her eyes closed. But is the woman asleep or dead? There was a theory that it is a fragment of a dead giant from the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon. Geological analysis of the marble has now shown this to be impossible
| Date published | 17/03/2017 |
| Title | Ludovisi Medusa or Fury |
| Date | 2nd Century AD |
| Dimension | Height 0.54m |
| Accession | Inv. 8650 |
| Period | Hellenistic |
| Medium | Luni marble |
| Credit | Boncompagni Ludovisi Collection, from the Cesi Collection |
