Collection Spotlight: The Medusa Mosaic

Roman, Mosaic Floor: Medusa, 117-138, stone and glass, 500.4 x 1258.1 cm (197 x 495 5/16 in.), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA.

In 1892, an ancient villa was discovered just north of Rome, near the villa of Augustus’s wife, Livia. Several well-preserved mosaic floors adorned the baths of the villa. Jack and Isabella Gardner inspected the mosaic in 1895 and purchased the floor in 1897.

Celebrate 2025, the Year of the Snake, with our Medusa Mosaic collection honoring the crown jewel of the Gardner Museum's world-renowned Courtyard.