Bacchus and Ceres

Bacchus and Ceres — the gods of wine and grain — were frequently paired in mythological painting as an allegory of earthly abundance, with the Latin tag 'sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus' (without food and wine, love grows cold) providing a learned underpinning. Ricci's treatment from around 1710 reflects his mature command of the Venetian mythological tradition. The subject was well-suited to decorative programs for dining rooms and pleasure villas, where themes of festivity and harvest had obvious appropriateness. Ricci would have drawn on models from Rubens and the northern Baroque tradition as well as his Venetian forebears.

The figures of Bacchus and Ceres are likely rendered with characteristic Rococo warmth and sensuality — Bacchus flushed and garlanded with vine leaves, Ceres with golden grain. The color scheme is rich and festive, with deep greens, golds, and warm flesh tones.