eighteenth century
with frame 58 x 49 cm
Eighteenth-century French school
Entourage de François Boucher (Paris 1703 – 1770)
Cupid shooting his arrow
Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 cm
with frame 58 x 49 cm.
Complete details of the work on https://www.antichitacastelbarco.it/it/prodotti/cupido-che-scocca-la-freccia
The painting, of pleasant quality and typically eighteenth-century grace, describes the little Cupid, God of Love, surrounded by vaporous clouds and intent on shooting one of his darts. The iconography, which finds its origins in the cupids of the classical age, depicted as children armed with bows in the act of shooting their arrows, then had great diffusion in the Renaissance and Baroque ages, finding their full diffusion in the parameters of rocaille taste. The delicate painting presented here is fully part of this production, probably part of a series or created as a charming token of love.
The painting takes up the numerous pictorial compositions created by the French master François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770). The good quality of the painting could indicate that it derives from the workshop. Born and raised in Paris, he received his artistic training in the workshop of François Lemoyne. In 1727 he left for a study trip to Italy, staying in Rome at the French Academy and, for a short time, in Naples and Venice. On the peninsula he had the opportunity to meet and study the Carraccis, Pietro da Cortona, and above all Guercino and Correggio, his great points of inspiration, without naturally neglecting the Venetian masters, such as Veronese and Tiepolo. Around 1731 Boucher returned to Paris, where he quickly gained royal favor and the interest of private collectors, becoming a very prolific artist who would profoundly influence the new Rococo movement.
Finally, in his works we note some strong similarities with the works of Sebastiano Ricci, whom Boucher met personally during his stay in Venice, following his style, characterized by rich decorative and luminous effects.
The observer of this beautiful painting can easily identify with the figure that will be hit by the arrow and feels that arrow as if it were in front of him, a sensation that the artist allows people to experience through a daring frontal perspective. The inspiration for our artist, for this pictorial expedient, must certainly have been Guercino with his famous 'Venus, Mars and Cupid' (Modena, Galleria Estense), commissioned by Duke Francesco d'Este. With a formidable invention, Gurcino portrays Cupid in the act of shooting the dart straight towards the spectator, following the indication of Venus, whose right hand is painted almost in trompe l'oeil. The viewer is thus called to identify with the person who commissioned the work.
The painting is in an excellent state of conservation, professionally relined and complete with a lacquered and gilded wooden frame.
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