De Ceres: fila de jupiter y reyna de los sicili · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: De Ceres: fila de jupiter y reyna de los sicili
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Italian Countryside
Description: Ceres is depicted on the right-hand side of the engraving wearing a crown and holding a scepter. We know this is Ceres as her name is written beside her scepter. We also know this is Ceres as she is the goddess of harvest, which is what this engraving depicts. Boccaccio explains that after discovering agriculture, Ceres had tamed oxen and trained them to yoke. She also discovered planting seeds and then taught men how to harvest them once they matured. There is one man plowing the fields with the oxen, and another in the background husking grain. There is another man with a bag of flour over his head, as Ceres also taught men how to turn flour into an edible fare. Ceres wears the crown and scepter to signify her importance linked to agriculture and harvest.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:14480
Language: spa
Source Name: De Las Mujeres Ilustres [On Famous Women]
Parent Collection: 1494 Mujeres Ilustres; 1494 Mujeres Ilustres
Image: mta_14480_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Ceres; Important Women; Famous Women; Agriculture; Harvest; Roman Mythology; Goddesses