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Giulio Bonasone<break strength="x-strong"/> Bologna, 1500 – 1574<break strength="x-strong"/> Jason and Medea, also known as The Revenge of Medea, 1551-1560<break strength="x-strong"/> Etching and burin 209 x 305 mm<break strength="x-strong"/> Donation of Guglielmo Guidi, February 2002<break strength="x-strong"/> A leading figure in 16th-century Italian engraving, Giulio Bonasone began his career as a painter. His interest soon turned to the practice of etching, often supported by burin interventions, in search of intense chiaroscuro and light effects. The engraving of Jason and Medea – or more correctly The Revenge of Medea – attributed in the past to Parmigianino, derives from the front of the sarcophagus (2nd century AD) depicting the Legend of Medea, preserved in the Ducal Palace of Mantua. It is an etching with burin interventions, dated based on the graphic ductus to the sixth decade. It represents the moment in which Medea, repudiated by Jason who preferred Glàuce, takes revenge by killing her rival and her children. The narration, divided into several moments, develops from right to left, with a gradual crescendo: from an almost absolute stasis it ends with an intense frenzy, in which the marked gestures of the female figures evoke that of the ancient "possessed maenads" of Warburgian memory. On the right, Glàuce, seated, listens to the words of the old nurse, who perhaps advises her to accept the gifts sent by Medea (the poisoned diadem and peplos). In the center, Jason watches in terror the drama of Glàuce who, having put on the dress, flees in the grip of the flames. Near the cradle, the unaware children play ball. Further to the left Medea moves away towards Athens carrying the corpses of the children on the chariot pulled by dragons sent to her by Helios.