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Created: the 1580s-’90s Material, technology: oil, oakwood Size: 38.4 x 57 cm Description: Ceres is associated with the harvest of cereals - summer -, Bacchus with vintage, or autumn. They became indispensable in the Middle Ages in the representation of the seasons and of occupations. Bacchus was shown "riding" a wine barrel, after Joannes Sambucus’ (1531-1584) book of emblems published in Antwerp in 1564, which must have been known to the painter of this picture, too. Goats as symbols of lust belonged to the retinue of the god of wine since late antiquity. In the Ceres picture, the cranes harnessed to the coach and the boys with vegetable marrows and cabbages symbolize transitoriness and rebirth. |  |
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