Jason en de draak after 1663

This is an anonymous line engraving, depicting Jason and the dragon. Without knowing the precise date, it is difficult to know exactly what informed this artist's view of the classical world. But in 17th Century Netherlands, the classical world provided a rich source of stories with which to explore contemporary cultural and political themes. Here, Jason is portrayed as a hero slaying a dragon, and saving a man in the process. But we might ask, what did the heroic figure of Jason mean at this time? How are we to read the dragon, the defeated figure, and the potential victim? Is this a political allegory? To answer these questions we can turn to the archives. We need to investigate the public role of classical imagery in the Netherlands at this time, and the politics that were at play. By exploring such contexts, we can begin to appreciate the artwork’s meaning as something contingent on its social and institutional context.