Detail of Medea Rejuvenating Aeson by Giaquinto in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: Medea Rejuvenating Aeson

Artist: Corrado Giaquinto (Italian, Molfetta 1703–1766 Naples)

Date: ca. 1760

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 29 x 21 1/2 in. (73.7 x 54.6 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Purchase, University Place Foundation Gift, 2011

Accession Number: 2011.82

An inscription on the back of this canvas identifies it as a sketch executed by Giaquinto during his sojourn in Spain (1753–62) as a tapestry design for the Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara in Madrid. The tapestry, probably destined for one of the royal residences, was never produced. The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses and depicts the sorceress Medea in the foreground, casting spells to rejuvenate the body of her husband’s father Aeson. Two altars burn with sacrifices, including a black sheep. Medea has also summoned the moon, represented by the figure Diana, whose emblem is the crescent moon.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/441234