61 cm × 46 cm (24 in × 18 in)
Wikimedia Commons
Medea is an 1868 oil painting by the Pre-Raphaelite
Group of English artists formed in 1848 to counter what they saw as the corrupting influence of the late-Renaissance painter Raphael. painter Frederick Sandys. The painting was submitted to the Royal Academy of Arts for display in the Summer Exhibition of 1868 but was controversially rejected.[1] The picture was accepted the following year and reviewed very favourably in The Times, which commented pointedly on its previous failure to win a place.[2]
In Greek mythology, Medea was a sorceress and the wife of Jason, leader of the argonauts. After Jason deserted her for Creusa, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth, she took revenge by killing Creon, Creusa, and her own children.[3] Sandys’ painting shows Medea concocting a poisonous potion.[1]
The picture is now in the collection of the Birmingham Museums Trust, to which it was donated by the Public Picture Gallery Fund in 1925.[4]