Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres

Venus sits centrally while Bacchus raises a wine cup on the left and Ceres rests in the foreground with her back to the viewer, surrounded by a harvest of grain and fruit. Behind Venus, Cupid holds both wheat and grapes, physically linking the sources of sustenance to the goddess of love. The figures exhibit the heavy, muscular anatomy and complex, twisting poses typical of the Dutch Mannerist style.

This work visualizes the aphorism 'Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes), a theme common in Renaissance natural philosophy and moral emblems. It explores the necessity of material sustenance—food and wine—to maintain the heat of passion, reflecting broader early modern interests in the relationship between physical humors and the soul.