Medusa’s Gaze by Marina Belozerskaya: book review

The Medusa in Medusa’s Gaze: The Extraordinary Journey of the Tazza Farnese (2012) is that of Greek myth, once a beautiful woman punished by Athena who braided snakes into Medusa’s hair rendering her hideous. But the image of Medusa is on one of the most beautiful pieces of art in history.

Given the book by Belozerskaya herself, having read one of her previous books, Medici Giraffe (2006), I found this one more fascinating, focusing solely, intently, and deeply on one piece rather than a collection. Russian-born Belozerskaya is an art historian with a number of books to her credit. This book is richly endowed with black and white photographs, but the ones of most intrigue grace the front and back covers – for their detail, colour, exoticism, and ornamentation. These are the colour photographs of the Tazza Farnese – a libation bowl of banded agate, circa first century BC.

Libation is the act of pouring liquid as an offering, as in a religious ritual. The 22cm (8.5 inch) libation bowl is carved on both sides – on the outside is the traditional image of Medusa with her wild hair and snakes, and on the inside is “a radiant vision of luminescent [Egyptian] gods posed against the amber, orange, and brown layers of sardonyx.” Belozerskaya not only describes the carvings in detail, but she also suggests several interpretations and connotations of each element and figure in the images. So too does she describe the stone’s virtues – to satiate thirst, to foster sight, and to ward off evil. 

Belozerskaya tracks its origins from Alexandria in Egypt and its actual or possible 2,000 year journey to Rome in Italy, Constantinople (Istanbul) in Turkey, Herat in Afghanistan, Samarqand in Uzbekistan, and back to Rome and Naples (often presenting different scenarios). She writes of places and people – those who admired the bowl and those who may have owned it throughout history, from emperors, cardinals, popes, kings, queens, and a Mongol conqueror, for “it is the Tazza’s owners who give it its shifting meanings.”

It received its modern name, the Tazza Farnese, in 1537 when it came into the hands of Pope Paul the Third, Alessandro Farnese, through the marriage of his grandson, Ottavio Farnese, to Margaret of Parma (also known as Margaret of Austria). When it came into the possession of Elizabetta Farnese, the second wife of King Philip V of Spain, it was publicly displayed for the first time. In the 19^th century it was placed in the Museum of Naples. But after surviving 2,000 years almost intact, it is in the safety of the museum that it is broken and shattered into two large and 10 small pieces in 1925. Repaired, it stands in the museum to this day.

The bowl’s history is beautifully written, easy to read and to imagine its life cycle. Belozerskaya outlines the artwork’s amazing journey: who loved it, why it was loved, who fought for it, and how it was hidden from the eyes and hands of others. She brings the exquisite precious bowl to life through her description of every feature, every facet, and every delicate line, groove, rise, shape, and shadow.