Cosimo e il "Perseo" di Cellini

Speranza

The reasons why Cosimo de' Medici required a PERSEO for the Loggia dei Lanzi are at least approximately reconstructible.

They sprang from the interaction of symbolism and symmetry.

There is a medal of Cosimo's predecessor, Alessandro de' Medici, showing PERSEO in armour with the head of medusa in his outstretched left hand waling across the sea.

This is a DYNASTIC, not a personal, emblem.

So much for symbolism.

As for symmetry, Donatello's JUDITH shows her with her left hand in the hair of the dead Holofernes. A PERSEO, with the head of Medusa in his left hand, Cosimo thought, "would be perfectly appropriate" -- and symmetric.