The mocking of Ceres.

Etching, 30 x 23,1 cm, laid paper, signed and dated in plate at lower margin "W. Hollar fecit aqua forti 1646" (trimmed to the platemark, sm. restoration at lower left corner).

Stuck by left edge on paper mount.

This etching depicts the goddess Ceres on her quest to find her daughter, Proserpina. Quenching her thirst at a stranger’s home, she is mocked by a little boy for drinking so greedily. Areas of untouched paper contrast powerfully with the dense, richly inked lines. Especially striking is the sliver of light that gleams through the opening of the cottage door. The print is made after an engraving by Hendrick Goudt, who was inspired by a painting by Adam Elsheimer in Rome.
Ref. New Hollstein (Hollar), 846. - R. Godfrey, "Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England", New Haven and London, 1994, no.70.