Perseus with the head of Medusa

Frederick William Pomeroy's bronze statuette of Perseus was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1898 and was a reduction of the original life-size model in plaster. As with his contemporaries, Gilbert and Thornycroft, it was the theme of small bronzes that Pomeroy favoured, in keeping with Renaissance tradition, and between 1890 and 1900 he exhibited a total of eight at the Royal Academy, Perseus being by far the most popular and critically acclaimed.
Echoing the masterpiece by Benvenuto Cellini in general attitude and accessory, although in the interests of aesthetics omitting the corpse of Medusa at his feet, Perseus is a supreme example of the male nude, rendered in a taut and graceful pose, musculature rippling across the surface. Unlike Gilbert's version of the hero, Pomeroy's presents the hero triumphant, displaying both his trophy and his youthful beauty. Versions of the bronze are in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and interestingly they differ both to each other and to the original plaster. Small details, such as the decoration on the helmet, Medusa's hair, the sword hilt and the presence of a fig leaf vary. Another cast of this size, originally in the Handley-Read Collection, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (A.9-1972).