Alliance of Venus with Bacchus and Ceres

Venus occupies the center of the composition, partially draped and gesturing toward a standing Cupid who holds bundles of grain and grapes. To the left, a crowned Bacchus raises a shallow wine cup in a toast, while Ceres is seen from behind in the foreground, identifiable by the harvest of grain in her hair. The print illustrates the classical proverb that love requires sustenance to thrive, set against a background featuring a distant castle and twisted trees.

This engraving visualizes the Roman proverb 'Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes), a central theme in late 16th-century Mannerist art. In the intellectual context of the Haarlem circle, this allegory reflects a Neoplatonic understanding of the harmony between physical nourishment and the spiritual/emotional force of love, suggesting that the higher virtues depend upon the equilibrium of the natural world.