The Deliverance of Cybele, an Allegory of the Seasons 1735 - 1806

Curator: We are standing before Gabriel François Doyen's “The Deliverance of Cybele, an Allegory of the Seasons,” a charcoal drawing that dates between 1735 and 1806. It’s currently part of the collection here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: My first thought? What a turbulent, dramatic scene. It’s like looking into a storm, everything swirling with this sepia toned intensity. I get a sense of epic scale and imminent drama. Curator: Doyen, operating in a late Baroque or early Neoclassical period, uses the allegorical mode here to speak to power, nature, and perhaps even anxieties around seasonal changes and societal stability. Note the central figure of Cybele, the Phrygian earth goddess, along with all the theatrical figures and celestial forms surrounding her. Her presence speaks to concepts of fertility, protection, and the cyclical nature of time itself. Editor: Fertility via stormy chaos? Interesting contrast. Though, when you put it like that, seeing her nestled amid lions on that ornate chariot… It has me thinking about cycles too, how creation and destruction dance together. It also makes me think about motherhood as power, almost literally carrying the world or season forward. It makes me wonder, who is she saving? Curator: Perhaps herself? We have to also consider Cybele in context. She was sometimes appropriated by political powers as a symbol of authority. Seeing her “deliverance,” we might also interpret it as a statement on liberation, or even regime change, which was certainly in the air when Doyen was at work. The question of what and for whom, liberation remains pressing to me. Editor: Okay, I am totally on board with this complexity! The way the figures tumble out of the cloud formations… it does suggest power, freedom, and disruption, which is amazing for charcoal on paper. It’s like capturing lightning in a bottle! It's kind of exhilarating, seeing these forces collide in a single artwork. Curator: Exhilarating, yes, and still relevant! Doyen’s blending of mythology and politics pushes us to ask—how are classical narratives reframed to either critique or uphold status quos, both then and now? Editor: Absolutely. And for me, that’s what makes this chaotic beauty truly stay with you, its potential. Thanks for that. Curator: My pleasure! Thank you for sharing your insight!