Medea: or The Marriage of Jason and Creusa (B., Holl. 112; H. 235)

Details

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Medea: or The Marriage of Jason and Creusa (B., Holl. 112; H. 235)
etching with traces of drypoint, 1648, a very good, richly printed impression of the fourth state (of five), before the removal of the verses, watermark Strasbourg Lily with Pendant Initials WK, with comparatively wide margins, with pale light staining, a few unobtrusive spots of adhesive (?) on the figure of Medea, otherwise in very good condition
P. 240 x 177 mm., S. 270 x 205 mm.

Provenance

Dr. A. Blum (L. 79b).

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Lot Essay

In Greek legend Medea, wife of Jason, was a passionate and jealous woman who fled with Jason when he returned to Greece after capturing the Golden Fleece. When he later deserted her to marry another woman, Medea stopped at nothing to gain her revenge, even murdering her own two children, her father-in-law, and Jason's new wife.

Medea: or the Marriage of Jason and Creusa was a play by Jan Six, one of Rembrandt's most important patrons. The image is an illustration of the play's theme rather than of a specific scene. Medea is depicted lurking in the shadows with the instruments of her revenge while the wedding of Jason and Creusa, presided over by Juno, unfolds in a majestic architectural space above. In the present, published state, four lines of text are added below, identifying Jason not as a hero but as adulterer, and Medea as a wronged wife 'unjustly cast aside.'

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