Johann Georg Platzer: The Pleasures of the Seasons - Summer (1730)

(Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)

Johann Georg Platzer (1704-1761) was an Austrian Rococo painter. This painting is part of a set of 4, each depicting a season. this one is dedicated to the summer. In a shell niche stands Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and the patron goddess of summer. In her left hand she holds a cornucopia - a symbol of the abundance of the earth. Painting from 1730.