Medusa refers to two lost works associated with the legend of Leonardo da Vinci painting the severed head of the mythological Gorgon surrounded by serpents, the first reportedly an early work on a wooden shield described by Giorgio Vasari, the second an oil-on-canvas painting long displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The Uffizi painting was attributed to Leonardo in 1782 based on Vasari's account and became popular through Romantic-era engravings, but twentieth century critics including Bernard Berenson rejected the attribution, and it is now considered the work of an anonymous Flemish painter active around 1600.
Facts
Partially Attested
Year CreatedApplies to the Uffizi painting, dated about 1600; the Vasari-described Leonardo shield is lost. LocationUffizi Gallery, Florence 1 Connections
Created By
Source Medusa, Leonardo (Wikipedia)
In Form
Source Medusa, Leonardo (Wikipedia)
In Genre
Entity-backed identity for the genre enum value this work already carries, resolved to an arts art-form by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The genre fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the work unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Italy, located there.
Sources
1. Medusa, Leonardo (Wikipedia)
Uffizi painting section, date
now believed to be a work of an anonymous Flemish painter, active ca. 1600
Uffizi painting section, location
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Genre reference
Medusa refers to two lost works associated with the legend of Leonardo da Vinci painting the severed head of the mythological Gorgon surrounded by serpents, the first reportedly an early work on a wooden shield described by Giorgio Vasari, the second an oil-on-canvas painting long displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Created By: Leonardo da Vinci, lead paragraph
Medusa is either of two paintings described in Giorgio Vasari's Life of Leonardo da Vinci as being among Leonardo's earliest works. Neither painting survived.
In Form: Painting, lead paragraph
Medusa is either of two paintings described in Giorgio Vasari's Life of Leonardo da Vinci as being among Leonardo's earliest works. Neither painting survived.
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