Jupiter fed by the goat Almathea

Jacob Jordaens personally used the etching needle several times. He etched religious scenes as well as genre scenes and made rather creditable work. However, the engravings that Schelte à Bolswert made after Jordaens’s work are among the most beautiful Jordaens prints. In this Roman mythological scene a nymph is milking the goat Amalthea for the little Jupiter. He is sitting on the right as a naked child on the ground with a feeding bottle in his hand. On the left a laughing satyr with a tambourine is watching. The text indicates that Jupiter’s capriciousness in love was due to the fact that he was fed goat’s milk in his youth. Goats were actually considered to be lecherous animals. The print is based on a painting made by Jordaens between 1630 and 1635 and is in the Louvre in Paris (France).