The Gorgon's severed head screams from a round parade shield, snakes writhing from her scalp and blood spurting from her neck. Cardinal del Monte commissioned it as a gift for Ferdinando I de' Medici. Caravaggio painted on a curved surface yet made the head seem to project forward, and the face is often said to be his own.
Look closer
The head casts a shadow on the pale green ground, as though it floated before a flat surface, though the shield actually bulges outward.
Looks like this
Compared by a vision model
