Ceres Seeking Her Daughter or Ceres and Stillio
Medium
Etching, only state
Dimensions
sheet: 11 5/16 x 9 1/8 in. (28.7 x 23.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of James N. Rosenberg, 1964
Accession Number
64.561.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching, created in 1646 by Wenceslaus Hollar after designs linked to Hendrick Goudt and Adam Elsheimer, captures a poignant moment from classical mythology. It illustrates Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, in her desperate search for her daughter Proserpina, a tale drawn from Ovid’s *Metamorphoses*. The scene includes a youthful figure, likely representing Stillio or a companion, emphasizing themes of maternal longing and divine intervention amid a landscape that hints at transformation and loss. Hollar, a prolific Bohemian-born printmaker active in England and Antwerp, specializ...
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar|Hendrick Goudt|Adam Elsheimer|Ovid · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...