Hendrick Goltzius: Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus (1600-1603)

(Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA) 

This beautiful painting is an ink-on-canvas drawing made by the Dutch painter an engraver Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617). Subject is a line from Roman comedian Terence: 'Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus', tranlated this means Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze. On the painting Venus, the goddess of love, is being illuminated by Cupid's torch. Two satyrs offer her grapes and fruits of the harvest, illustrating the painting's title theme: without food and wine, love cannot flourish. painting from 1600-1603.