Venus en Cupido

Venus reclines against a tree holding a cluster of grapes, while Cupid sits below her clutching stalks of wheat and resting near his quiver. The scene is framed by a circular border containing a Latin proverb, with a background showing laborers harvesting in a distant field. This engraving is a prime example of the artist's virtuoso technique, featuring sophisticated cross-hatching and swelling lines.

This print illustrates the classical adage 'Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes), suggesting that love cannot endure without the physical sustenance of food and wine. In Renaissance natural philosophy and Neoplatonism, this theme explored the essential link between the material needs of the body and the spiritual or emotional passions.