Ceres Seeking Her Daughter (The Mocking of Ceres)

Hendrick Goudt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made during Goudt’s residence in Rome from about 1604 to 1610, this engraving 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 bears a dedication to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, an important collector and patron in Rome.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art