Perseus and Caput Medusae
A hero holding a gorgon's severed head, pierced with real star positions.
- Work
- Urania's Mirror — Perseus and Caput Medusae, Plate 6
- Artist / naturalist
- Sidney Hall
- Origin & date
- London, 1825
- Held by
- Wikimedia Commons
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and keep.
Size
$19.00
The story
Another card from Sidney Hall's Urania's Mirror (1825), giving the hero Perseus his own plate — sword raised, winged sandals on his heels, gripping the severed head of the gorgon Medusa by its snake-hair. Like every card in the set, Perseus is pierced with pinholes at each star's true celestial position, meant to be held to a candle so the constellation glows exactly as it appears overhead; the labeled stars along his armor and Medusa's face (Algol, the 'demon star,' marks her eye) are real catalogued positions, not decoration. What to notice: Algol is one of the sky's most famous variable stars, its brightness visibly dimming every few days as an orbiting companion star partially eclipses it — ancient skywatchers who couldn't explain the flickering placed it, fittingly, in a monster's severed head.
About this reproduction
- Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wikimedia Commons’s open-access release.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper: smooth, no glare.
- Color-managed to the source scan.
- Ships in 5–8 business days; satisfaction guarantee.
