Caravaggio (1571-1610)Medusa (Detail)Oil on canvas mounted on wood1598-159955 x 60 cm(21.65†x 23.62â€)Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence, Italy) ___ In Greek myth, Perseus used the severed snake-haired head of the Gorgon Medusa as a shield with which to turn his enemies to stone. By the sixteenth century Medusa was said to symbolize the triumph of reason over the senses; and this may have been why Cardinal Del Monte commissioned Caravaggio to paint Medusa as the figure on a ceremon