.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The tapestry celebrating Agriculture's Triumph, is revealed through a trompe l'oeil opening that is crowned by a flowered cartouche displaying Cupid's triumphal laurel-wreathed 'targe' or shield, and attended by Cupid's companions. These bear fruit and flower-issuing cornucopiae, the horns of Peace and Plenty, and accompany serpents as emblems of the summer and kindly harvest deity Ceres, while exotic birds attend hermed statues of Ceres, that are garlanded with fruit and flowers and displayed in pilaster niches bearing the shell-badge of the nature-deity Venus.
The Virgilian concept that 'Agriculture flourishes with the laying aside of arms', is personified by a wind-swept female figure pouring water on the earth; while melting weapons at an altar. It was Ceres, who assisted mankind to regain a golden age, by making ploughs from weapons.
The Virgilian concept that 'Agriculture flourishes with the laying aside of arms', is personified by a wind-swept female figure pouring water on the earth; while melting weapons at an altar. It was Ceres, who assisted mankind to regain a golden age, by making ploughs from weapons.