With Shelley in Italy

A close-up of Medusa's severed head lying on a dark, rocky ground, her hair replaced by a writhing mass of intertwined snakes. Her pale face is contorted in the moment of death with eyes rolled upward, while small creatures like a toad and insects crawl through the murky, vaporous shadows in the background.

Historically attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, this image became a cornerstone of the Romantic 'terrible sublime,' specifically inspiring Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem on the subject. In the broader philosophical tradition, the Medusa represents the petrifying power of material obsession and the 'terrible beauty' of divine truths that cannot be faced directly.