Cupid Secretly Drawing an Arrow

1807

Gilles-Lambert Godecharle

(Belgian, 1750–1835)

Culture

Belgium, Brussels

Medium

terracotta

Measurements

Overall: 22.8 cm (9 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1977.72

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Location

301 Baroque Sculpture Mezzanine

Did You Know?

Cupid traipses daintily on rose blossoms, ready to shoot his love-filled arrow at an unsuspecting victim.

Description

This clay model is a maquette for a sculpture in limestone more than three feet tall, entitled Cupid Disguised, Hiding Under a Veil. The motif is borrowed from the Marlborough cameo (an ancient Roman cameo now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. no. 99.101) that was a source of inspiration for neoclassical artists. The gem illustrates the wedding of Cupid and Psyche—shown as veiled children with protruding wings—from which Godecharle extracted the single figure of Cupid and, instead, depicted him in ambush.