VENUS AND CUPID

Etienne-Maurice Falconet was born into the artisan class of Paris. He studied with both Nicolas Guillaume and Lemoyne, and his reputation was sufficiently established by the 1750s that in 1757 he was asked to become director of sculpture at the Sèvres factory. It was while working there that Falconet produced a series of groups on the theme of Venus and Cupid on a scale easily translatable into porcelain. The present group is a variant of a Venus Chastising Cupid signed 'E. FALCONET 1760' previously in the possession of M.J. Vinmer of Paris. Another variant of the group is in the Wallace Collection, now attributed to Joseph Broche (c.1741-c.1801; L. Réau, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, I, Paris, 1922, pp. 236-238, pl. XV).