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PAG1-burnejones-perseus-jpg

Also known as “The Death of Medusa II,” this painting, reproduced in halftone, is from a series of ten commissioned in 1875 by Sir Arthur Balfour for his music room. Displayed in portrait orientation, this image depicts the moment after Perseus cuts off the head of the Medusa. At the centre of the image is the back of one of Medusa’s two winged sisters. We see her lower body and dark wings spread out as she takes flight to find her sister’s murderer. At left is the second winged sister, facing the viewer and looking down at the ground at the headless corpse in the bottom right. Above the corpse is Perseus, wearing armour and his helmet of invisibility. A swirl of cloud surrounds his helmet as if to signify his invisibility. He is carrying Medusa’s head and looks at the two sisters while leaping away from them and towards the right frame of the image. Occupying the extreme foreground in the bottom right half of the picture is the body of the Medusa, now headless, with its back to the viewer. Her left foot is flat to the ground; her leg is bent with its knee in the air. Her hip rests on the ground while her right arm has twisted behind her back, propping her upper body up on the back of her right hand and wrist. The left arm is not visible. The background for the lower half the image depicts a lake or pool of water in front of a range of large mountains.

Also known as “The Death of Medusa II,” this painting, reproduced in halftone, is from a series of ten commissioned in 1875 by Sir Arthur Balfour for his music room. Displayed in portrait orientation, this image depicts the moment after Perseus cuts off the head of the Medusa. At the centre of the image is the back of one of Medusa’s two winged sisters. We see her lower body and dark wings spread out as she takes flight to find her sister’s murderer.