Passeri’s A Party Feasting in a Garden seems like a happy end to an alfresco luncheon. Young couples are deep in conversation, flirting, and courting, which suggests this is a garden of love. It is casual and innocent, though Passari is a moralist. Close examination of the shield at the bottom of the bench suggests that heedless youth is in for a fall: the Latin legend Cardunt et Remanent translates as “They fall, and they remain.”
Featured Image: Giovanni Baptista Passeri. A Party Feasting in a Garden (1645), oil on canvas. National Gallery of Ireland Dublin
Featured Image: Giovanni Baptista Passeri. A Party Feasting in a Garden (1645c.). Oil on canvas. Dublin: National Gallery of Ireland