A link between the downfall of Medea and a series of stories about the hero Theseus, this was a subject for the Prix de Rome. Includes a little-known Poussin.
Medea
The decline and fall of Medea, as her sorcery is used for murder, and she kills her own infant sons. Paintings by Delacroix, Turner, and others.
An unusual story of sorcery used to restore youth has seldom been painted – even after Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein became popular.
Three tasks: yoking the fire-breathing bulls and ploughing in dragon’s teeth to generate an army, then getting past the fleece’s guardian dragon.
Princess, sorceress, seductress, wife, mother, and vengeful filicide – one of the most complex characters to paint. Known from her letter in Heroides, and a lost work by Ovid.
How Acontius won his bride, and how a portrait of her by an obscure Dutch painter may be part of a series. Mysteries solved, perhaps?
The Eclectic Light Company 