Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791) was born into the artisan class of Paris. He studied with both Nicolas Guillaume and Lemoyne, and his reputation was sufficiently established by the 1750's 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 marble groups on the theme of Venus and Cupid on a scale easily translatable into porcelain.
The present marble group of Venus Nursing Cupid is a variant of the group in the Wallace Collection, itself a pendant to Falconet's Venus Chastising Cupid. Several of these pairs are known to exist, including versions in the Frick and the Pierpoint Morgan Collection in New York and the Robert de Rothschild Collection in Paris.
Mann (op.cit.) states that the original marble of Venus Chastising Cupid is now considered to be that in the possession of M.J. Vinmer of Paris, which is signed E. FALCONET 1760. The example in the Pierpont Morgan Collection is similarly signed.
The fine detailing and the subtle modelling of the surface of the present marble compare favourably with autograph works by Falconet, in particular the small-scale mantelpiece goddesses. The 32cm. high Flora in the Hermitage for instance, resembles the present Venus and Cupid in its careful attention to the decorative minutiae, such as the tapering fingers and roses, and the soft carving of the flesh in both succinctly conveys the femininity of the principal figure.