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Cupid Secretly Drawing an Arrow

Cupid Secretly Drawing an Arrow by Gilles-Lambert Godecharle (Belgian, 1750–1835)

Medium

terracotta

Dimensions

h. 22.8 cm

Classification

Sculpture

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art

Credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Accession Number

1977.72

Rights

Public Domain

Tags

male

About this artwork

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, depict...

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