Today is the last Sunday of January so this week’s picture is an image inspired by the two-faced god to whom the Romans dedicated that month (and from whose name the word “January” is itself etymologically derived), namely Janus. In Roman mythology Janus was the doorkeeper of heaven, one who looked both into the past and the future, so he often holds a key as well as a sceptre symbolising his power. He was the deity to whom those undertaking new enterprises would make their offerings for good luck, so he also became the guardian of all the fortunes of the new year. His name may have been derived from the masculine form of Diana (Jana). It is possible that he was originally a god of light and day who gradually evolved into the god of the beginnings of all things.

The image of Janus often embellished Roman arches, because his double head was associated with a gate that opens both ways. He thus became the patron of entrances and exits, which lends a certain aptness to the image of him reproduced here. It is a costume design for the character of Janus as he appeared in the so-called “Ballet de la Nuit”, an elaborate theatrical-cum-musical-cum-balletic entertainment staged in honour of Louis XIV of France – one in which the king himself danced, a performer in the very spectacle designed to apotheosise him – on the evening of February 23, 1653.

According to the catalogue of the Bibliotheque de l’Institut de France, which owns a portfolio of some 118 costume designs for the “Ballet de la Nuit”, including this one, they are simply attributed to the hand of an unknown artist of the French school. But Mireille Pastoreau, chief conservator of that institution, who generously responded to my request for...

To read the full article please either login or register .