19th Century
After the French Revolution, Medusa was used as a popular emblem of Jacobinism and was often displayed as a figure of "French Liberty" in opposition to "English Liberty," personified by Athena (whose shield bore Medusa's head). "To radicals like Percy Bysshe Shelley, Medusa was an "abject hero," a victim of tyranny whose weakness, disfiguration, and monstrous mutilation become in themselves a kind of revolutionary power." Shelley's 1819 poem, On the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery was published posthomously by his wife Mary Shelley in 1824. Octave Mirbeau's use of Medusa during this time has also been examined.
Read more about this topic: Cultural Depictions Of Medusa And Gorgons
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“Appearances often are deceiving.”
—Aesop (6th century B.C.)