Striding Cupid

1st or 2nd century

A smiling child stands facing us with arms lifted in this cast bronze, free-standing sculpture. The surface is rough and pitted throughout and oxidized to green in some areas. In this photograph, the boy’s body faces us but his head tips back, and he looks up and to the right. His right hand, to our left, is raised, palm up, to about shoulder height, and the other hand, held slightly lower, is missing. With rounded feet, the child stands on a pedestal base rubbed gold across moldings along the top and bottom.

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G14

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze//Worn grey patina

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 7.6 x 4.3 x 3.6 cm (3 x 1 11/16 x 1 7/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1957.14.52

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 1945 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1957 to NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1931

  • Ricci, Seymour de. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Bronzes. Oxford, 1931: 52, no. 43, pl. 26.

1951

  • Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 139, as Running cupid by Italian 16th Century.

1965

  • Pope-Hennessy, John W. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars. London, 1965: no. 461.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 140, repro.

1983

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 84, no. 38.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 107, repro., as Hellenistic or Roman 2nd Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.

Wikidata ID

Q63810138

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