Venus playing with putti by the statue of Cupid

In this large, sculptural composition with Venus flanked by a couple of playful putti, Gérôme updated a jolly subject to the canons of the néo-grec taste. An early work, it is dedicated to 'Robert', possibly the sculptor and friend Valentin Robert, who executed a portrait bust of the artist in 1846. The same year Gérôme painted his celebrated first exhibit at the Salon in 1847, Combat de coqs (Musée d'Orsay), which shows a young woman closely resembling the features of Venus in the present sheet.