Year c. 1528 Artist Antonio da Correggio Location The Louvre Subject Cupid, Venus | Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 1.88 m x 1.26 m Created 1528 | |
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Periods Mannerism, Italian Renaissance Similar Antonio da Correggio artwork, Artwork at The Louvre, Mannerism artwork | ||
Venus and Cupid with a Satyr (c. 1528) is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Antonio Allegri da Correggio. It is housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. This painting was in the 16th century in the private collection of count Nicholas Maffei. It is very likely that one of the members of the Maffei family has commissioned two paintings that they then arrived in the 17th century in the collection of the Gonzaga family, with whom the Maffei were relatives.In fact, The son of count Nicholas Maffei count Frederick Maffei married Isabel, daughter of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga today last representative and head of the House, Maffei-Gonzaga is Prince Luke Maffei-Gonzaga
. It depicts Venus sleeping with her son Eros. Behind them, a satyr is caught while discovering the goddess. The picture was incorrectly identified as portraying Jupiter and Antiope as, according to the legend, Zeus had turned himself into a satyr to kidnap the nymph.
The painting was probably connected to the Education of Cupid, now in the National Gallery of London. It, or a copy of it, can be seen in the 1628 painting of the gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, by Willem van Haecht.