Médée furieuse

This 1838 Furious Medea at the Eugène-Delacroix National Museum depicts the mythological sorceress at the moment of maximum terrible resolve—the murder of her own children to revenge herself on Jason who has abandoned her for a Corinthian princess. Medea had been treated definitively by Delacroix in his 1838 Salon painting, and Chassériau's version enters into direct dialogue with the master he most admired and emulated. The choice to paint the same subject in the same year reflects both homage and competition: Chassériau demonstrating that his synthesis of Ingres and Delacroix could approach the great Romantic's treatment of mythological passion. This work's holding at the Delacroix museum places it in charged proximity to its primary point of reference.

The furious Medea is rendered with explosive energy, Chassériau's dramatic composition and intense coloring creating a figure of terrifying power that combines classical knowledge of the myth with romantic emotional extremity.