UNKNOWN MASTER, Flemish
(active in the 16th century)

Head of Medusa

16th century
Oil on panel, 49 x 74 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

From an early point, museums endeavoured to add the name of Leonardo to their collections. As early as 1782 this panel in the museum's depository was linked to a head of Medusa by Leonardo da Vinci which Vasari mentions. It is likely, though, that a well-read Netherlandish artist had read the biographer's description of the monster that is said to have frightened Leonardo's father, and amalgamated it and an independent head of Medusa to produce this painting.