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GIORGIO CERAGIOLI (1861-1947); AFTER A DESIGN BY 'Tête de Méduse'
Second Half of the Twentieth Century
bronze with a dark brown patina, marked in the maquette '21' and '11'
height 54in (137cm); width 25in (63cm); depth 16in (31cm)
Second Half of the Twentieth Century
bronze with a dark brown patina, marked in the maquette '21' and '11'
height 54in (137cm); width 25in (63cm); depth 16in (31cm)
Sold for US$28,160 inc. premium
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GIORGIO CERAGIOLI (1861-1947); AFTER A DESIGN BY
Second Half of the Twentieth Century
bronze with a dark brown patina, marked in the maquette '21' and '11'
height 54in (137cm); width 25in (63cm); depth 16in (31cm)
Footnotes
The arresting depiction of a screaming Medusa, her winged head surrounded by a mass of gaping mouthed serpents, was an image popular in European symbolist art of the turn of the century. Inspired by antiquity, particularly the Medusa Rondanini discovered by Goethe in the late 18th century, the image of Medusa became a potent representation of the femme fatale archetype, a seductive, powerful and threatening woman.
There has been some debate about the authorship of this model. An example with a Siena marrble base, from circa 1900, signed "F. Khnopff", from the collection of Anne-Marie and Roland Gillion-Crowet is on long term loan to the Royal Collection of Fine Art, Brussels (Inv. GC 123), and was exhibited in The Master of Enigma, Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921) at the Petit Palais, 2019. However, it has been suggested that the sculptor of this medusa is in fact Giorgio Ceragioli (Italian, 1861-1947). There are also variant casts, with differences in the position of the serpents and their gaping mouths, some with fangs, and some without as in the present example.

