European Painting before 1900, Johnson Collection Sine Cerere et
Libero friget Venus (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would
Freeze)Made in Netherlands, Europe Hendrick Goltzius, Dutch
(active Haarlem), 1558 - 1617 Ink and oil on canvas |Purchased
with the Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg Fund for Major
Acquisitions, the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund in memory of Frances
P. McIlhenny, bequest (by exchange) of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert C.
Morris, and gift (by exchange) of Frank and Alice Osborn, 1990|
This remarkable painting is actually a gigantic "pen work," an
ink-on-canvas drawing transfigured by rosy touches of oil paint.
The source of illumination in the painting—Cupid's torch—is also
the focal point of the narrative. The flame rouses Venus, the
goddess of Love, from a deep slumber. Two satyrs offer her
grapes and fruits of the harvest, illustrating the painting's
title theme: without food and wine, love cannot flourish. This
ancient Roman theme was extremely popular in Holland at the turn
of the seventeenth centur