Description
BERTEL THORWALDSEN, follower of. (Copenhagen 1770 - 1844) Sleeping Cupid White marble sculpture, 38 x 55 x 34.5 cm. Unsigned Gray veined marble base PROVENANCE Roman family This fine sculpture depicts little Cupid in his sleep, holding his quiver and bow tightly during a moment of rest from his activity. The composition of the sleeping Cupid, of which some replicas with slight differences are known in Florence's Palazzo Pitti, Milan's Castello Sforzesco, and Turin's Palazzo Reale and Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, is usually attributed to the 17th-century sculptor François Duquesnoy, while recently a specimen on the antiques market has been attributed to Giovacchino Fortini (1670-1736). The appreciation for this sculptural model in Europe still in the 19th century is evidenced by the one preserved in Helsinki at the Sinebrychoff Museum, which bears an apocryphal attribution to the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The present sculpture is also given to us by the noble Roman family with a traditional attribution to Thorvaldsen, who has always been considered the probable executor of the work BIBLIOGRAPHY Spirits, cupids, genets and cherubs. Allegories and putti decoration from the Baroque to the Neoclassical, exhibition catalog, edited by V. Natale, Accorsi-Ometto Museum of Decorative Arts, February 19-June 5, 2016, Turin 2016, pp. 38 - 39
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BERTEL THORWALDSEN, follower of. (Copenhagen 1770 - 1844) Sleeping Cupid White marble sculpture, 38 x 55 x 34.5 cm. Unsigned Gray veined marble base PROVENANCE Roman family This fine sculpture depicts little Cupid in his sleep, holding his quiver and bow tightly during a moment of rest from his activity. The composition of the sleeping Cupid, of which some replicas with slight differences are known in Florence's Palazzo Pitti, Milan's Castello Sforzesco, and Turin's Palazzo Reale and Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, is usually attributed to the 17th-century sculptor François Duquesnoy, while recently a specimen on the antiques market has been attributed to Giovacchino Fortini (1670-1736). The appreciation for this sculptural model in Europe still in the 19th century is evidenced by the one preserved in Helsinki at the Sinebrychoff Museum, which bears an apocryphal attribution to the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The present sculpture is also given to us by the noble Roman family with a traditional attribution to Thorvaldsen, who has always been considered the probable executor of the work BIBLIOGRAPHY Spirits, cupids, genets and cherubs. Allegories and putti decoration from the Baroque to the Neoclassical, exhibition catalog, edited by V. Natale, Accorsi-Ometto Museum of Decorative Arts, February 19-June 5, 2016, Turin 2016, pp. 38 - 39
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