wool and silk, 1760, French; The story of Jason, Medea's Flight, Gobelins; Audran, De Troy.

In a chariot drawn by dragons, Medea flees Jason's wrath. Trailing from the chariot are the bodies of the couple's murdered sons. Smoke billows from the right side of the composition, indicating the devastation Medea has left in her wake. Jason reaches for his sword, but is restrained by one of the Argonauts.

Purchased with Art Fund support and the assistance of the Murray Bequest and the Vallentin Bequest

Purchased as a complete cycle of seven tapestries (T.2 - T.8-1951) from the Wednesday 2 December 1950 sale at Christie's, London. Forming lot 322, the tapestries were consigned by the 2nd Baroness Burton, Nellie Lisa Melles. Their remarkable provenance was related in the sale catalogue as follows:


'In 1787 these seven tapestries were given by the State to the Comte de Vergennes, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1774, on the occasion of the successful completion of a commercial treaty with England. The set was, between the years 1800 and 1820, purchased by William Murray who succeeded in 1796 as 3rd Earl of Mansfield of Caen Wood, Co. Middx. The set probably hung at his house of Caen Wood, now know as Kenwood, until its sale about 1870 by William David Murray, 4th Earl in 1840, to Mr. Michael Thomas Bass, father of the 1st Lord Burton.'


Once purchased, it was Sir Leigh Ashton's intention that the tapestries "would be utilised to form a background to the Jones collection which has hitherto had to exist in the rather chaste splendour of a bare gallery; but, equally, if the Fund are prepared to contribute and wished, for instance, to present part of the set to Ken Wood(sic), where they were originally hung, this would, I think, be worth considering.". It was Lady Burton's wish that the tapestries should at some point be shown at Kenwood, but Ashton felt the museum should have 'one great complete set of Gobelins'. (MA/1/C1401/7)

According to Fenaille, eleven cycles and several individual scenes (79 tapestries in total) were woven at the Gobelins. This does not include the cycles that constituted private commissions for the royal palaces and diplomatic gifts for foreign dignitaries. Though it was expected that tapestry cycles would be re-woven, as and when required, the popularity of de Troy's story of Jason cycle was clearly such that it led Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, director of the Gobelins in 1783, to remark that the subject had been 'done to death' (letter dated 11 February 1783, cited in Leribault, 2002, p.104).

The cartoon is in the Louvre, Paris.

A study for the figure of Jason is in the collection of the Abbé Joseph Giry, Béziers.

See T.2-1951.

The mythological story of Jason is synonymous with adventure and great feats of heroism. This tapestry belongs to a cycle of seven works relating the story of Jason's voyage with the Argonauts; their quest to capture the golden fleece, and their subsequent return to Greece. Particular emphasis is placed on one aspect of the story that is seldom explored: Jason and Medea.The cycle was woven in the celebrated Gobelins workshop to cartoons by François de Troy.

The cycle closes with this climactic scene of Medea's flight from the city of Corinth. Having learnt of Jason's betrayal, Medea avenged herself by murdering his wife, Creusa, and Creusa's father, the King of Corinth. In her despair she also murdered her children by Jason and set fire to Corinth. The tapestry shows Medea fleeing Jason's wrath in a chariot drawn by dragons. The bodies of her sons lie in a heap at her feet, while the smoke billowing from Corinth on the right suggests the devastation Medea has wrought. Jason reaches for his sword but is restrained by one of the Argonauts.

De Troy depicts Medea as remorseless and unrelenting; she gestures towards the bodies of her sons, conveying to Jason that the children were murdered by her own hand, as a deliberate act of revenge.

T.8-1951