PERSEUS AND THE LEGENDS OF ARGOS 515The Baleful Head. By Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898); oil on canvas, 1887, 6OV2 X 503 / 4
in. This is the final painting in Burne-Jones' Perseus cycle, undertaken for Arthur Balfour
in 1875 and based on William Morris' poem "The Doom of Acrisius" in The Early Par-
adise. Ten full-scale watercolor cartoons (now in Southampton, England) and four oil
paintings (now in Stuttgart, Germany) were completed. Burne-Jones sets the lovers in an
enclosed garden. They look at the reflection of the Gorgon's head, held up by Perseus,
in the surface of a marble-sided well. The bright, open eyes of Andromeda provide a dra-
matic contrast with the reflection of Medusa's closed eyes. The scene is an intense yet
peaceful close to the turbulent adventures of Perseus, who still must face the battle with
Phineus. (Stuttgart, Staatsgallerie.)