René Boyvin after Léonard Thiry. Medea killing her brother, Apsyrtus, and throwing pieces of his dismembered body overboard to prevent her father chasing the Argo. Plate 15 from Livre de la conqueste de la Toison d'Or. France, 1563.

Medea killing her brother, Apsyrtus, and throwing pieces of his dismembered body overboard to prevent her father chasing the Argo (plate 15). Medea, on the deck, is cutting her brother to pieces. In the background, King Aeetes' fleet is chasing the Argo. The main picture is depicted within an ornate strapwork border incorporating a rich array of grotesque ornament. Signed on plate (monogram within image, bottom left).

Robert Dumesnil, VIII. Nos. 7, 8, 13, 15-21 2nd state. Nos. 2, 23-25 3rd state. Nos. 1, 4, 9, 10 3rd state,with added shading. Nos. 7, 8, 20 have burin scratches since 1563 edition.

Historical significance: This engraving comes from a set of twenty six by the same engraver after the same artist of the story of the Golden Fleece. The artist Thiry, was assistant to Rosso Fiorentino at the French royal chateau of Fontainebleau. Using Thiry's designs, the printmaker Boyvin has successfully translated the formula of a large, fresco painting of figures surrounded by a stucco frame from the Gallery Francois I at Fontainebleau into a small, easily portable multiple object made of ink on paper, that nevertheless conveys something of the essence of its inspiration. The transposition of a design idea from a courtly, rural setting at Fontainebleau to the publishing world of one of Europe's capital cities also ensured it was prints which spread the influence of Fontainebleau internationally.

In order to delay her father who is chasing after the Argo, Medea commits the first of many awful crimes and kills her brother Apsyrtus. She slices him into pieces forcing her father to stop and retrieve all the limbs. The belief was, indeed, that you had to be buried with your whole body to reach the afterlife.

Plate 15 from 'Livre de la conqueste de la Toison d'Or' (Book of the Conquest of the Golden Fleece)

The artist who designed this print worked as assistant to the Italian artist, Rosso Fiorentino, at the French royal palace of Fontainebleau. The most clebrated interior at Fontainebleau was the Galerie Francois I, named after the then king, which featured fresco paintings set into elaborate plaster frames. This black and white print translates this idea into a form which was both much more affordable and portable, and thus enabled the influence of Fontainebleau to travel right across Europe.

E.2023-1908