The Alliance of Venus with Bacchus and Ceres
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 11 13/16 x 8 1/8 in. (30 x 20.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.456
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Alliance of Venus with Bacchus and Ceres*, a captivating engraving by Jacob Matham, likely after designs by his mentor Hendrick Goltzius two titans of Dutch printmaking in the late 16th century. This sheet, measuring 11 13/16 x 8 1/8 inches, depicts the Roman goddesses Venus (love and beauty), Ceres (agriculture and harvest), and Bacchus (wine and revelry) in a symbolic union. Such mythological groupings often celebrated harmony, fertility, and earthly pleasures, reflecting Renaissance fascination with classical antiquity amid the Northern Mannerist style's elegant, elongated forms...
About the Artist
Jacob Matham|Hendrick Goltzius · 1571–1631
**Jacob Matham: Master Engraver of Haarlem** Jacob Matham was born on October 15, 1571, in Haarlem, in the Northern Netherlands, into a burgeoning artistic milieu. Following his father's early death, his mother married the renowned painter and engraver Hendrick Goltzius in 1579, who adopted the young Jacob and trained him rigorously in the workshop as his stepson and pupil. Matham's first signed ...