Love making the bow, Follower of Francesco Mazzola, Parmigianino (Parma, 1503 – Casalmaggiore, 1540)

Follower of FRANCESCO MAZZOLA, known as IL PARMIGIANINO (Parma, 1503 – Casalmaggiore, 1540)
Love that makes the bow (as the triumph of love and desire over reason and knowledge)
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Oil painting on canvas
138 x 105 cm/ Framed 166 x 105 cm.

Nineteenth-century lining. Scattered retouching, excellent condition.
Fine gilt wood frame with molded edges from the late 19th century

Important painting portraying a full-figure Cupid intent on carving his bow, a work made in oil on canvas attributable to an author who was a follower of Francesco Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, active between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The painting, which turns out to be of excellent quality, is a study dedicated to the famous altarpiece depicting Cupid making the bow created by Parmigianino in 1533/35 for the noble cavalier Francesco Baiardo, friend and patron of the painter, now preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna (Information on the museum's official website).

This complex iconography and the way it is depicted have made the painting an extraordinary example of the artist's ingenuity and sophistication. His contemporaries, in fact, were able to recognize that beauty of style and refinement of line that characterized his works.

For these reasons, the work enjoyed enormous popularity and exerted a profound and lasting influence, as demonstrated by the fact that over the years it was widely copied and taken as a model by numerous artists. There are more than 50 copies including, the most illustrious, that of the Alte Pinakothek of Munich by Joseph Heintz the Elder, and that of Rubens, from 1614, which is preserved at the Alte Pinakothek of Munich [ 1].

The painting represents the young Cupid who, occupying the scene entirely, of a tall and narrow format to perfectly frame his statuesque body, is intent on making the bow with which he shoots his arrows of love.
He is not represented as a child but as an adolescent, an aspect that was deliberately intended to give a greater sensual character to the composition: the figure created by Parmigianino was certainly inspired by the ancient Hellenistic sculptures that represented the young man.

Cupid suddenly turns and looks seductively at the viewer, disrespectfully pointing his left leg on two books to support the bow, symbolizing the triumph of love and desire over reason and knowledge.
Attention to the lower half of the painting is drawn to the two cherubs that can be seen between Cupid's legs, locked in an embrace. The little boy, who is winged, directs a look of mischievous complicity at the viewer, forcefully squeezing the little girl, who tries to rebel with a grimace of anger, and takes her right wrist as if directing her to touch Cupid, or to submit to the Love.

The two children are identified as the dangers of unrequited love, which Cupid himself will soon appease with one of his arrows. Various interpretative hypotheses have been formulated on the pair of cupids: Anteros and Liseros (respectively the male impulse that gives strength to love and the female principle that counteracts its vehemence), or Sacred Love and Profane Love.
The characteristics of the pictorial draft suggest a dating between the 17th and 18th centuries and the author is certainly to be found among the various followers who, looking to the Parma master as an example of style, replicated some very successful models and therefore much sought after by the prestigious clients of the time.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold complete with a gilded wooden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.

It is also possible to see the painting in the gallery in Riva del Garda, we will be happy to welcome you to show you our collection of works.

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