Venus and Cupid

1711/1724

Giuseppe Piamontini

Associated Names
Giuseppe Piamontini

Sculptor, Florentine, 1663 - 1744

The sculpture features two figures: a seated woman and a standing winged boy. The woman is wearing a draped garment and is positioned on the left, with curly hair and an exposed torso. The winged boy next to her has curly hair, is nude, and has detailed wings; he holds an object in his right hand. The woman is reaching out her left hand towards him. The dark bronze sculpture has a glossy, reflective surface emphasizing the intricate details of the figures. The base is textured, resembling natural forms.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 37 x 25.4 x 22 cm (14 9/16 x 10 x 8 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1974.18.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire, England; art market, Brighton; purchased 1973 by (Michael Hall Fine Arts, New York); purchased 25 February 1974 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence 1670-1743, Detroit Institute of Arts; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 1974, no. 298.

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, no. IV, repro., as by Giovanni Battista Foggini.

1981

  • The Bronze Figure in Italy, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida; J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, 1981, no. 27.

2019

  • Plasmato dal fuoco: La scultura in bronzo nella Firenze degli ultimi Medici [Forged in Fire. Bronze sculpture in Florence under the last Medici], Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 2019 - 2020, no. 44, repro.

Bibliography

1974

  • Draper, James David. "Giuseppe Piamontini's 'Amore in Braccio a Venere'." Antichità vita 13, no. 6: 44-45, fig. 3.

1991

  • Bellesi, Sandro. “L’antico e i virtuosismi tardobarocchi nell’opera di Giuseppe Piamontini.” Paragone 42 no. 497 (1991): 21-38, esp. 29, 31; repro fig. 46.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 173, repro.

2003

  • Fogelman, Peggy, and Peter Fusco, with Marietta Cambareri. Italian and Spanish Sculpture. Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Los Angeles, 2003: 244, 248 n. 5.

2005

  • Orsi, Carlo. Giuseppe Piamontini: "Il Sacrificio di Isacco" di Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Elettrice Palatina. Milan, 2005: 50-52, fig. 35.

2008

  • Bellesi, Sandro. I marmi di Giuseppe Piamontini. Florence, 2008: 63.

2009

  • Brillos en Bronce: Colecciones de Reyes, exh. cat., Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio de Oriente, Madrid, 2009-2010, Madrid, 2009: 204.

Wikidata ID

Q63854640

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