Ceres and Midas

The subject, Midas touching 'the gift of Ceres', is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book XI, 125-126). The composition appears to be a pastiche of motifs taken from Giulio Romano’s decoration in Palazzo Te in Mantua. The dragon at lower left, for example, derives from the lunette with Psyche receiving water from the Styx on the west wall of the Camera di Psiche in Palazzo Te (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Giulio Romano, Psyche receiving water from the Styx. Palazzo Te, Mantua.