Venus and Cupid, large plate

Art Historical Context

Henri Fantin-Latour's *Venus and Cupid, plate* (1896) captures the tender intimacy of the Roman goddess of love and her mischievous son in a masterful lithograph. Created late in the artist's career, this print reflects Fantin-Latour's lifelong fascination with classical mythology, blending his precise Realism—honed through friendships with Courbet and Manet—with lyrical elegance. The composition evokes the sensual grace of Renaissance masters like Titian, whom he admired, portraying Venus and Cupid in a moment of affectionate play that symbolizes desire and maternal devotion. Printed in black ink on delicate ivory China paper laid down on sturdy white wove paper, the work measures an impressive 32.4 × 41.3 cm for the image alone. Lithography, Fantin-Latour's preferred medium in his later years, allowed for fluid, drawing-like tonal gradations directly from the stone, mimicking the subtlety of charcoal sketches. This "large plate" edition highlights the technique's scalability, producing rich contrasts and velvety textures ideal for intimate mythological scenes. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this piece exemplifies the fin-de-siècle revival of classical themes amid France's artistic transitions toward Symbolism. Fantin-Latour's lithographs bridged 19th-century traditions with modern printmaking, offering affordable beauty to a wide audience while preserving his reputation for exquisite detail. A timeless celebration of love's whimsy! (198 words)

About the Artist

Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904

Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...