Ceres pleading with Jove for the Return of Prosperpina: Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book V

Thomas Carwitham

1713–33 · Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash · Drawings and Prints

Carwithan worked as a decorative painter in early 18th century England, and here represents Ceres kneeling before Jove. At right, a dog that retreats over the cloud evokes Hades. An inscription identifies the source as Ovid’s "Metamorphoses," book 5, which recounts Pluto's abduction of Proserpina into the Underworld, and Ceres's subsequent appeal for her daughter's return. Similar drawings at the Yale Center for British Art, British Museum, and Tate Britain suggest that Carwithan was contemplating a scheme for a ceiling, using imagery found in murals by Louis Laguerre (1663-1721) and James Thornhill (1665/6-1734) at Greenwich, Chatsworth and Blenheim.

Artist

Thomas Carwitham

Date

1713–33

Medium

Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Roberta J. M. Olson and Alexander B. V. Johnson, 2014