Proserpina

A chiaroscuro woodcut rendered in tones of ochre and black, showing the goddess in a dynamic, serpentine pose characteristic of the Haarlem Mannerist style. She holds a bouquet of flowers aloft while leaning against a large tree trunk, with a basket of ripened produce at her side. The oval composition emphasizes the organic forms of the vegetation and the idealized anatomy of the figure.

Proserpina is the central figure of the Eleusinian Mysteries, symbolizing the cycle of death and rebirth and the seasonal transition of the natural world. In Neoplatonic thought, her myth was interpreted as an allegory for the descent of the soul into the material realm and its eventual liberation.