PAUL TROGER ' MEDEA ON THE CHARIOT PULLED BY DRAGONS '

PAUL TROGER (Monguelfo, 1698 - Vienna 1762) 'MEDEA ON THE CHARIOT PULLED BY DRAGONS' oil on canvas 107.5 x 82 cm Expert report by Prof. Emilio Negro This interesting painting depicts the legendary sorceress Medea, repudiated wife of the Argonaut Jason, who with her spells had helped her husband conquer the mythical Golden Fleece, the prodigious goatskin symbol of royal power, with which portentous magical rites could be performed. For this reason, the beautiful woman is portrayed as a virgo cruenta driving the chariot pulled by a pair of fearsome dragons, with a torch in her left hand, with which she set fire to the palace intended for Jason and Glauce (his new wife), and in her right hand the dagger with which, in atrocious revenge, she murdered the two children she had with the Greek hero. They can be seen lying dead under their mother's chariot, with which Medea will definitively abandon the earth to reunite in heaven with Diana, the "chaste goddess" and goddess of the hunt who had cursed her for breaking her vow of virginity to marry Jason.