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Ceres and Bacchus
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This painting is a copy of a print by Jan Harmensz Muller (Dutch, 1571–1628), originally based on a painting by Spranger. Spranger often used the iconography of Ceres and Bacchus, two important agricultural deities. Muller's print has the Latin inscription Sine Cerere et Bacchio friget Venus , which translates to "without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold." The motto indicates that Love, represented by Venus, is impossible without the nourishment of food and drink, as the deities of grain and wine walk hand in hand.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineCeres and Bacchus, 1600s. Copy after Bartholomaeus Spranger (Flemish, 1546–1611). Oil on canvas; framed: 197.2 x 133.7 x 9.5 cm (77 5/8 x 52 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.); unframed: 163.5 x 100 cm (64 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Holden Collection, 1916.805
