The Dead Medusa
Date1875
Artist
Elihu Vedder
(American painter, 1836–1923)
MediumChalk on paper mounted on board
Dimensionscomposition: 15 3/16 × 22 3/8 in. (38.6 × 56.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1955
Object number1955-23
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThroughout his career, Vedder was fascinated with the story and image of Medusa, in particular Nathaniel Hawthorne's telling of it. Vedder first depicted Medusa in 1868 and continued to produce images of her into the 1890s. Vedder composed his own version of the myth which was privately published in 1872. With its emphasis on the exquisitely rendered body—arrayed appropriately in a serpentine pose—Vedder's Medusa recalls the Gorgon's early life as a beautiful maiden.
