Label Type
Exhibition labelLabel
Gilles Rousselet (1610-1686), French
after Jacques Stella (1596-1657), French
Mythological Scene, 1657
Ink on paper engraving
2021.05.19
This engraving shows four figures seated next to an ancient column and under a large tree. The scene is ambiguous to us but would have been recognizable to educated 17th century viewers. It is possible the female figure represents Ceres, mother of the god of wine Bacchus, possibly the child on her lap interested in the grapes. The winged boy is likely Cupid, traditionally depicted as a teenager rather than child. The figure behind them could represent Terence an African-Roman playwright who coined the phrase “without Ceres [food] and Bacchus [wine], Venus [love] freezes,” and this scene might be a visualization of that saying. The work is engraved, sculp., by Gilles Rousselet after a painting by Jacques Stella, note the term pintix on the lower left, Latin for “he or she painted this.”