One of Rome’s great sculptures – Medusa – now on view at the Legion

A special sculpture has taken up temporary residency at the Legion of Honor. It’s the Baroque masterpiece The Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The loan is part of The Musei Capitolini’s program The Dream of Rome, a project initiated by the mayor of Rome to exhibit timeless masterpieces in the United States.

This is the first time Bernini’s scuplture has traveled to the U.S. and only the third time it has left Rome in nearly 400 years.

Recent conservation efforts have restored the Medusa to its full glory and revealed previously hidden polish and patina. Believed to date from between 1638 and 1648, this extraordinary work takes its subject from classical mythology, as cited in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It shows the beautiful Medusa, one of the Gorgon sisters, caught in the terrible process of transformation into a monster. Her hair is turning into writhing snakes, which, according to Ovid, was a punishment from Minerva for having had an affair with Neptune, god of the sea. The punishment also made Medusa an instrument of death by turning anyone who looked upon her to stone.

Unlike most classical art that depicts Medusa as a monster in her post-transformation state, Bernini’s sculpture focuses on the agony of her transformation, showing the pain and anxiety she experiences, her mouth drawn in agony.

Bernini’s Medusa is on display until February 19, 2012 at the Legion of Honor Museum. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30am until 5:15pm.

Sarah B.