The Mocking of Ceres

Artist Hendrick Goudt (Dutch, 1573 - 1648)

Artist After Adam Elsheimer (German, 1578 - 1610)

Date1610

MediumEngraving on satin

DimensionsOverall: 12 11/16 × 9 7/8 inches (32.23 × 25.08 cm)
Mat: 21 1/4 × 16 inches (53.98 × 40.64 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: Nelson Gallery Foundation

Object numberF88-26

On View

Not on view

Collections

Prints

Terms

Exhibition History

Thirty Years of Print Purchases for the Permanent Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, November 19 - December 31, 1989, no. 14.

Graphic Masterworks from the Permanent Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 23-July 25, 1993, no cat., as The Mocking of Ceres.

Inked in Time: Six Centuries of Printed Masterpieces, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 22-May 31, 1998, no cat., as The Mocking of Ceres.

Mythological Subjects, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 9, 2007-April 13, 2008, no cat., as The Mocking of Ceres.

Mythological Subjects, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 12-December 15, 2013, no cat., as The Mocking of Ceres.

Gallery Label

This engraving is made after a painting by Adam Elsheimer, a German artist working in Rome in the early 17th century who was famous for his night scenes. It illustrates an incident during the search by Ceres, the goddess of agricultural plenty, for her daughter Proserpina, who had been abducted by Pluto, the god of the underworld. While frantically casting about for nine days without food or drink, she was given a jug of water by an old woman. The naked boy ridiculed the goddess' thirst and in punishment for his disrespect was transformed into a lizard. The engraving is printed on satin, which gives a softer, richer texture to the shades of the night.

Provenance

With Pia Gallo Gallery, Chicago, by November 21, 1988;

Purchased from Pia Gallo Gallery by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1988.

Published References

Eugène Dutuit, Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, vol. 4, Écoles flamande et hollandaise (Paris: A. Levy, 1881), no. 6, p. 522, as Cérès cherchant la fille.

Henry Scipio Reitlinger, “Hendrik, Count Goudt,” Print Collector’s Quarterly 8 (1921): 231-45.

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts Ca. 1450-1700, vol. 8, Goltzius-Heemskerck (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1953), no. 5.

Alfred von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon, vol. 1, A-K (Amsterdam: Israel, 1963), no. 5, p. 606, as Ceres bei der alten Metanira.

Thirty Years of Print Purchases for the Permanent Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, November 19 - December 31, 1989, p. 6.

George L. McKenna, Prints, 1460-1995 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 64-66, 275, (repro.), as The Mocking of Ceres.

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