The Head of Medusa

With great cunning Perseus killed Medusa, a monster whose hair consisted of snakes and whose gaze could literally petrify men and animals (Ovid, Metamorphoses). The blood dripping from her severed head also turned into serpents. At the time of Rubens, the painting was understood politically or allegorically as a symbol of the victory of Stoic reason over the enemies of virtue. The drastic depiction of Medusa with her bulging, blood-shot eyes open wide is by Rubens himself and his workshop; the animals are attributed to the specialist Frans Snyders.