Perseus assisted by Minerva, killing Medusa

Five years older than Fuseli, Runciman also drew on poetry and mythology for his subject matter, and may have influenced the younger artist's manner of depicting the human figure. In Ovid's Metamorphosis the three Gorgons had a hideous appearance which turned whoever beheld them to stone. Perseus beheaded Medusa, but her head retained its petrifying power after death. Runciman focuses more on the classical, reclining body of Medusa, which collapses back on her Gorgon sisters, than on her face. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)

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