Benvenuto Cellini, which is one of the important representatives of the trend of maniaism, reflects the features of the maniaist style, namely elegant, complex, mysterious and the artist’s full skill to Perseus statue.

The sculpture, which was built in about 1545-1554, is located in Piazza della Signoria, where it was first built. This statue was made by Duke I. Cosimo. Since the name of Cosimo de Medici will be understood, he belongs to the famous Medici Family.

The subject of the statue is quite clear; Tell the legend of Perseus and Medusa in Greek Mythology. Perseus is the hero who defeated Medusa. Medusa, on the other hand, was cursed by Hera because she tried to seduce Zeus while she was a beautiful and charming person, and those who looked at her turned into stone.

In the continuation of the story, Perseus was prepared to fight Medusa by Athena and Hermes. Athena gave her a mirror-like armor, and Hermes gave her winged hoods and sandals.

Perseus kept his armor towards Medusa during the war, making him come to the eye and Medusa turned into stone. Perseus went to fight another monster by cutting Medusa’s head and defeated the monster by holding the cut head against him.

Legend briefly like this now let’s get back to the statue.

Duke I. Cosimo liked the sculptural project of Cellini, but said that bronze casting would not work in such a detailed sculpture, it was difficult to dissolve. Cellini told him that he was a successful sculptor and that he could overcome it. After starting Cellini sculpture, he sees Cosimo is right because the bronze flows very slowly and does not fill the mold. For this reason, he asks his helpers to burn all the wooden materials in the house and reproduce the fire, but this was not enough. Finally, he managed to pour the bronze into the mold by burning the silver and metals.

It would not be wrong to say that sculpture is a complete reflection of the legend. It is possible to see the details of Hermes’ winged cap and sandals, and the cut head of Medusa in the statue.

For the location of the statue, we said Piazza della Signoria. Here the statue looks at Michelangelo’s David statue (a copy of the original statue) and Bandinelli’s Hercules statue. These two statues were symbols of the republic in Florence. They represented a Florence, where the power was in the hands of its citizens.

Look at David and Hercules. It is as if they turned to stone by looking at Medusa in the hands of Perseus.

In a sense, with the Perseus sculpture of Medici in a humorous way, the impression of repeating these republic sculptures and enemies once again occurred.

These sculptures, in terms of their location and placement, actually said to us, “Something would be so beautiful that it could cut your breath and turn it into stone. A minister gives a political message such as “can be massacred with beauty”. Under the aesthetic and artistic aspect of the sculptures, there may be hidden political messages in details such as their location and how they are made.

Cellini also proved his talent by placing his own portrait on the back of Perseus’ head.