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Description: | Jan Steen was a Dutch figure and genre painter best known for his lively interiors and tavern scenes. However, in his later work he was increasingly influenced by French art and undertook more biblical and mythological scenes characterised by smooth handling and an increasingly elegant style. This picture would appear to date from this later period in his career. Ceres (known as Demeter in Greek) was the classical goddess of agriculture, and was often worshipped as the earth-mother, a fertility goddess. Here, she is the personification of the Earth's abundance, bare-breasted, crowned with flowers, and holding an elaborate metal ewer, whose handle is in the form of a grotesque figure, and a drinking bowl. However, she lacks the usual attributes of corn and vegetables. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the figure may represent a bacchante, a female devotee of Bacchus, but there is no expression of physical abandon and no tambourine, crown of vine leaves, grapes, ivy or snakes to support this. An old label suggests it may be the enchantress, Circe, who was often depicted drinking from a bowl as the ships of the escaping Odysseus and his crew sailed away in the distance. There are no ships in this image but the grotesque creature on the handle could be a reference to Odysseus's crew whom she turned into beasts. | Subjects: | allegory (Ceres or Circe?) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Steen, Jan (Dutch painter, 1626-1679) Æ Attributed to | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8697... | Go to resource |
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