Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus

In the Middle Ages, Caesarius of Heisterbach used it in his work, Dialogus miraculorum to warn against luxury and frivolity and to advocate an ascetic lifestyle.

[9] It was also employed in this moral sense in the influential Latin florilegium Manipulus florum (1306) by Thomas of Ireland as part of a passage misattributed to St. Jerome (https://manipulus-project.wlu.ca/MFfontes/AbstinenciaH.pdf).

[14] Depictions in art divide into those showing Venus, typically with an accompanying Cupid, either "freezing", without food and drink (or much in the way of clothing), or more comfortable when supplied with them, usually by the other gods in person.

Initially the depiction of this motif were closely tied to text and was found mostly in emblem books, with the first appearance in the Picta poesis of 1552, by Barthélemy Aneau.

[17] The Mikrokosmos, an emblem book of 1579 by the Dutch poet Laurentius Haechtanus may be the first depiction of the shivering Venus, as Ceres and Bacchus walk away.

The motif was especially favoured in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in the Netherlands and in the circle of mannerist artists at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague.

[22] Hendrick Goltzius produced at least 10 versions of the subject,[23] including a monumental work in the unusual technique of pen and limited colour on canvas, here highly effective (illustrated here).

[34] A paper of 2012 by R. de Mambro Santos discusses the motif in this context, and proposes that the depiction of the subject was greatly affected by the big brewers of Haarlem.

[35] According to Santos, van Mander can be seen to connect excessive drinking with wine, while beer is presented in his writings and art as a safer and more wholesome product.

[39] In particular Jan Mathijsz Ban was a leading brewer, a friend of artists and a significant collector, spending many weeks touring Italy with Goltzius.

[41] Lord Byron expanded on the proverb in Don Juan: ... some good lessons Are also learnt from Ceres and from Bacchus Without whom Venus will not long attack us.