Medusa (Rubens)

Medusa, or sometimes referred to as The Head of Medusa, was created c.1618 using oil on canvas and is 68.5 x 118cm.[6] Rubens enlisted the help of Frans Snyders who worked with him multiple times. Snyders was a nature artist and worked with Rubens to paint animals in his pieces, such as the snakes in Medusa.[6] The snakes portrayed are nonvenomous European grass snakes, except for the two snakes on the right side of her head which are vipers.[6] Vipers are a medieval symbol of ungratefulness.[6] In Greek mythology, Medusa is portrayed as having venomous snakes for hair.[7] The vipers are shown mating with the female having the male's head in her mouth. Towards the middle of the painting, an amphisbaena is shown. An amphisbaena is a snake-like creature that has two heads, one on each end of its body, and is noted in classical mythology.[8] In Greek mythology, amphisbaenas are made from the blood of Medusa and feed on decaying bodies.[6] Medusa is shown to have just been slain and is laying down in a pool of blood with the snakes and reptiles surrounding her.

Originally, Medusa was put in the Brno museum on December 26, 1818 as Ein Oehlgemälde das Medusenhaupt vorstellend.[9] This roughly translates into "An oil painting depicting the head of Medusa." Rubens was not attributed to this painting during this time as there was no artist attribution when it first entered the museum.[9] Count Joseph von Nimptsch I originally gave the work to the museum and his seal of ownership is on the back of the painting.[9] It is unknown to where he originally obtained the painting from, but it is thought, due to indirect evidence and assumption, that it originally belonged to his second wife.[9] Count Nimptsch donated the artwork a year after his wife died, which has been used as circumstantial evidence that she was the original owner.[9] Brno curator Ernst Rincolini originally attributed this painting to Rubens' student Abraham van Diepenbeeck, with the animals painted by Frans Snyders.[9] Rubens was not mentioned as being the original painter until 1899 and was officially attributed to the painting in the 1940s due to restorative work where it was confirmed that Rubens created Medusa alongside the help of Frans Snyders.[9] The painting that resides in the Bruno museum today is thought to be a copy of the original that is housed in Vienna.[9]

Medusa evoked strong reactions due to the intense imagery presented. Constantijin Huygens visited merchant Nicolaas Sohier's house in 1619 to view Head of the Medusa and stated in his autobiographical account, "There is the compelling painted head of Medusa, wreathed by snakes that spring from her hair. The countenance of the extremely beautiful woman has its grace still preserved, but at the same time evokes the horrors of the fitting beginning of death and the wreath of hideous snakes. The combination is so shrewdly executed that the spectator would be shocked by the sudden confrontation....but at the same time is moved by the lifelikeness and beauty with which the grim subject is rendered."[10] In private collections, the unveiling of the curtain to reveal the painting behind it is also attributed to the shocking effect it had on viewers.[10]