May 31st, 2005 -- by Bacchus
Cupid Gets A Spanking
In a nice twist on the ErosBlog header graphic, here we see Cupid getting a birching from (presumably) one of his intended victims:
Students of art history are invited to chime in (in the comments) with the provenance of the piece.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2005 at 12:15 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=1185
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=1185
I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like ;)
Now… that is a fine thought before bed
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
kiss kiss kiss
I love the cheeky little smile on Cupid’s face. I imagine Venus will take care of that soon enough.
Thanks for the photo!
The iconographic convention (cupid over a woman’s knee) is typically used in paintings that depict Venus reprimanding Cupid – you know, she just sick of his cheeky love play nonsense. The first example of this that I can recall is from the late Renaissance/Early Barouque period. This painting is neither – from the costuming I’m going to guess 19th century. Can’t tell you where though. I’ve also seen ones where Venus blindfolds him as well. Quelle scandale indeed!
Clearly, Cupid has been a very naughty boy, doing all sorts of this he shouldn’t. If you don’t believe me,look at this:
http://witcombe....html
It almost feels rococo… Reminds me of the one with the girl on the swing as her partner looks up her skirt, kind of an opulent, dirty style.
I think the idea originally comes from an epigram in the Greek Anthology. There’s a poem by Herrrick on the subject. And I believe the theme was adapted in mediaeval/renaissance art to show the Virgin Mary spanking baby Jesus (and also, as everyone knows, by Max Ernst).