3-056-808 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Four figures in a landscape being guided by a cherub in the sky, 1777. A small boy, pointing the way, leads three men towards a building in the distance. All three men are carrying an item. The man at the back carries a bowl with smoke rising from the contents, the man in the middle wears a garland of vine leaves and grapes, and the man in the front wears ears of wheat in his hair. The butterfly-winged cherub in the sky guides them by carrying a compass or dial. In the bottom right corner is an ouroboros, a snake forming a perfect circle by swallowing its own tail. The original artist, Otto Van Veen, was Rubens' last master between 1594-1598. From "Quinti Horatii Flacci emblemata imaginibus in æs incis, notisque illustrata", an illustrated version of the works of Horace, first published in 1607.