Baroque · 1597
Medusa
Medusa (1597) by Caravaggio. Its palette is led by soot (#171312, 34%) and dark golden olive (#454117, 30%), with accents of dark reddish brown, light amber, rich scarlet brown and pale orange amber. Overall the canvas is dark, moderately saturated and warm.
Color note
Caravaggio set brightly lit figures against near-black backgrounds, the dramatic style called tenebrism. His palette was simple, earth colors, lead white, black and vermilion: the drama comes from light, not hue.
Palette
- #171312 MG 223 soot 33.9% of canvas
- #454117 MG 194 dark golden olive 29.9% of canvas
- #451f0f MG 156 dark reddish brown 17.0% of canvas
- #dedee4 MG 206 silver 6.3% of canvas
- #c4c5d3 MG 212 pale grey 4.2% of canvas
- #c88d40 MG 033 light amber 3.7% of canvas
- #744a24 MG 162 rich scarlet brown 2.6% of canvas
- #eabf7a MG 031 pale orange amber 2.4% of canvas
Color families
Brown 45%, Black 38%, White 6%, Gray 6%, Yellow 4%
Measurements
Composition
62% of the visual weight is in the left half, 56% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.48 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 31% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 27% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.
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