Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Antonio Canova carved this marble Perseus as a Neoclassical response to the ancient Apollo Belvedere. The figure stands in a near-identical pose, but holds Medusa's severed head instead of a bow. Canova finished the first version in 1801 and a second in 1804.

When Napoleon looted the Apollo Belvedere from the Vatican in 1798, Pope Pius VII placed Canova's Perseus in its spot as a worthy replacement. The Apollo was eventually returned after Waterloo, but the Perseus stayed. It's still in the Vatican Museums, in the same Cortile del Belvedere gallery as the Apollo it was meant to replace.