Return of the Proserpine - Louis Chéron

ceiling of the Little Hall

Louis Chéron c.1695

oil on plaster

This subject, also taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, book v, is a most unusual choice. It shows the return of Proserpine to Earth after her abduction by Pluto to the Underworld. Proserpine returned each spring for one third of the year. Her return is witnessed by, from the top left, Iris, Jupiter, Juno, Ganymede, Pluto, Neptune, Apollo, Venus, Mars, Hymen, Mercury, and below by Diana, Minerva and Ceres. The mysterious figure to the left pointing at Proserpine has not been identified.

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