Venus Clipping Cupid's Wings

Artist Charles Le Brun (French, 1619-1690)

Dateca. 1655

Object number67.0642

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionsframe: 56 3/4 x 52 1/4 x 3 3/8 in., (144.1 x 132.7 x 8.6 cm,)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineMuseo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.

Collections

French Painting

DescriptionTo celebrate his second marriage in 1651 to Mary Magdalene of Castile, Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s finance minister, commissioned this work from Charles Le Brun as a gift for his new wife. Representing an allegory of marital love, Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, together with Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, strips Cupid of his bow and arrows. His wings are also cut off to prevent his escape and to protect the newlyweds from deceit and infidelity. From the background, Hymen, the god of marriage, appears, approving the union with a torch and a cornucopia. Le Brun was one of the twelve founding members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1648. There, he remained a central figure throughout his career, laying the foundations of academicism and classicism that would come to dominate it.

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