Sculpture

Venus and Cupid

Type: Sculpture(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1775-1800
Accession number: 16.7
Maker: Etienne Maurice Falconet(Opens in new tab) (French, 1716–1791)
Attributeds: Jean-Baptiste Ignace Broche(Opens in new tab) (French, 1741–1794); Joseph Broche(Opens in new tab) (French, 1735–1812)
Dimensions: 15 1/2 in. (39.4 cm.)
Medium: white marble on a white marble pedestal
Description: This statue portrays Venus holding roses in her left hand and drawing Cupid to her right side.
Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.
Department: European Art
Find out more: View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)

Label text

The imitation and reproduction of works of master sculptors was a common practice in 18th-century France. Falconet was one of the most renowned sculptors of the time, and his designs were used for the reproduction of small-scale marbles, like these sculptures of Venus and Cupid, both during his lifetime and over the next two centuries. Such replication responded to the demand from collectors for more decorative, mildly erotic figures and groups to place in domestic interiors.

Venus and Cupid

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