Fine Canvas Art Blog

Perseus and the head of Medusa by Franz von Stuck, 1908

German / Greco-Roman / Paintings (Reproductions) / Symbolist / Von Stuck - 1 year ago - troycapc

Franz von Stuck was the foremost of the Symbolist artists in Munich of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He co-founded the Munich Secession which formed a long-lasting rebellion on the part of young artists from the Academic styles of the older generation. He gained great acclaim and in 1905 was raised to the Bavarian aristocracy by King Otto. He died in 1928 mourned as the “last prince of art of Munich’s great days”.

When Perseus had killed the Medusa and put her head in a sack, he mounted on the winged sandals he had from Hermes. He flew near Joppa where he spied the Princess Andromeda chained to a rock. She was being offered as a sacrifice to Poseidon to keep the Krakyn from destroying the kingdom. Her fiancé Phineas was too cowardly to attempt to save Andromeda, but Perseus offered to King Cepheus to kill the monster. Perseus killed the monster but at the wedding feast for him and Andromeda the partisans of Phineas invaded the palace to take Andromeda away and kill Perseus. Perseus and his followers defeated them and, using the head of Medusa, they turned Phineas and two hundred of his followers to stone.

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