Medea Returning the Penates to Jason 

Georg Pencz made this engraving, Medea Returning the Penates to Jason, in sixteenth-century Germany. Pencz and his contemporaries were very interested in classical antiquity, and used classical stories to comment on the social structures of their own time. Here, Medea returns household gods to Jason. According to classical mythology, Medea was princess who used her sorcery to help Jason steal the golden fleece. They married and had children, but Jason later abandoned Medea for a Greek princess. Medea, in response, killed their children and Jason’s new bride. Jason is here depicted in full military gear, in contrast with Medea's nakedness; this contrast in garb suggests male dominance. Engravings like this one were designed to be reproduced and widely distributed. The stories they depict and the visual choices made by the artists can provide insight into cultural values of the time. As art historians, we use historical records to shed light on social and institutional contexts in which artists like Pencz were working.