# Ceres and Bacchus

**Bartholomaeus Spranger** (Flemish, 1546–1611)  
1600s  
oil on canvas  
Framed: 197.2 x 133.7 x 9.5 cm (77 5/8 x 52 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 163.5 x 100 cm (64 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.805. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.805).

## About this work

This painting is a copy of a print by Jan Harmensz Muller (Dutch, 1571–1628), originally based on a painting by Spranger. Spranger often used the iconography of Ceres and Bacchus, two important agricultural deities. Muller's print has the Latin inscription Sine Cerere et Bacchio friget Venus , which translates to "without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold." The motto indicates that Love, represented by Venus, is impossible without the nourishment of food and drink, as the deities of grain and wine walk hand in hand.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Bartholomaeus Spranger painted this in the 1600s, aged about 54. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Bartholomaeus Spranger](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/bartholomaeus-spranger)

Flemish, 1546–1611

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Flanders
- The artist was about 54
- Real size: about 64 × 39 in (164 × 100 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 16th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/484.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/484/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/ceres-and-bacchus-cma-97169).