Caravaggio: Medusa Murtola [On hold]

[on hold]

Oil painting on canvas, mounted on a convex wheel of fig wood (50 x 48 cm), executed between 1596 and 1598. The work is in a private collection in Italy. The first version has undergone diagnostic work that revealed various repentances and the presence of preparatory "charcoal" drawings. It is called "Murtola," following the madrigal that Gaspare Murtola composed in 1606 in honor of the painting, which had great fame. According to some scholars (Marini, Mahon, Gregori), this would be the original autograph, while the Uffizi version, devoid of repentance, would be a copy by the artist's own hand. What makes this first version exceptional is the fact that it retains Caravaggio's signature, imprinted in the blood gushing from the head. (Ermanno Zoffili, Mina Gregori, The first Medusa: Caravaggio, 2011)

Comments