🌊 SURF 'N TURF 🏝️ -THE ISLAND LIFE- https://image.nostr.build/0fcd795e59f1636ccddd3f69ac3e23c6fb7817ce143f939e42804ec8885fd755.jpg Benvenuto Cellini, "Perseus with the head of Medusa" (1545-1554), bronze sculpture, height (with pedestal) 519 cm. - Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence "Perseus with the head of Medusa" is a bronze sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, considered a masterpiece of Italian Mannerist sculpture, and is one of the most famous statues in Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Placed under the Loggia dei Lanzi, the sculpture represents Perseus standing on the body of Medusa, just beheaded with the sword held in her right hand, while the left raises triumphantly the head of the monster held by the hair. Placed on a high pedestal decorated with beautiful bronzes, it was designed to look down on the viewer. Together with the group of the rape of the Sabines, by Giambologna, it is the only statue preserved in the Logge dell'Orcagna to have been expressly conceived for that location. The pedestal, removed in the twentieth century and replaced with a copy, is a masterpiece in itself: in the fineness of the small bronze statues representing divinities connected to the myth of Perseus, all the skill of Cellini as a goldsmith in small-scale work is manifested. Commissioned by Cosimo I after his inauguration as Duke of the city, it was built between 1545 and 1554. The statue that can be admired today is the original one and was moved only on the occasion of a thorough cleaning and restoration which ended in 1998. Directly connected in terms of the nearby Judith and Holofernes by Donatello, in reality it deeply diverges from the measure of the early Renaissance embracing the marked Titanism typical of the period called Mannerism, when the sculptors imitated the grandiose works of Michelangelo. The Perseus also has a political significance, like most of the statues placed on the square: it represents the affirmation of the Duke who gives a "cut" to the republican experiences, represented by Medusa. In fact, snakes emerge from Medusa's body, an allusion to the proverbial city discords that had always undermined a true democracy. Perseus is made up of only three pieces (or four, counting the sword); the hero's body, the body of the Medusa, on which Perseus rests his feet, and the head of the Medusa, which Cellini reports in his Life to have cast as an experiment for the rest of the group. The fusion of Perseus was very complex and put Cellini and his assistants to the test. As it is told in the artist's autobiography, it was an almost "epic" operation, with the sculptor suffering from fevers and sweating (perhaps a melter's fever caused by the exhalations of metals and also documented in other cases), the fire of a furnace that had lowered due to a storm, then the supposed insufficiency of the tin, which Cellini allegedly remedied by throwing all the household dishes into the casting, and finally a start of fire in the shop. Despite the fame, mainly due to the circumstances of the fusion, critics are far from unanimous in acclaiming Perseus as a masterpiece of mannerism; The statue is attributed to its languid pose and excessive attention to detail, typical of the goldsmith who ultimately took over the sculptor. In particular, critics highlight how much the two preserved sketches, one in wax and one in bronze , both at the National Museum of the Bargello, are superior for plasticity and inventiveness in laying. " Credits goes to the respective Author ✍️/ Photographer📸 🐇 🕳️ #Bitcoin #Satoshis #Freedom #Apocalypse #Music #Movies #Philosophy #Literature #Grownostr #Stoicism #Nature APOCALYPSE ANONYMOUS by ATOSHI ANARKOMOTO