Luca Giordano - Perseus turning Phineas to Stone (early 1680s, 285 x 366 cm). Perseus is the mythical Greek hero who cut off the head of Medusa, whose glance immediately turned people to stone, and kept it in a bag around his waist. Perseus and Andromeda got married and had a huge party to celebrate. The jealous Phineas stormed into the party with his men, planning to kill Perseus. Having warned Andromeda to turn away, Perseus quickly pulled out the ghastly head of Medusa, which immediately froze Phineas and his followers to the spot and their flesh was transformed into cool, hard, grey stone.