SCULPTURE. ●000000000000000 ANTIQUE. 0000000000 FRENCH MUSEUM. CUPID. The ancient authors do not agree on the origin of Love: some have even thought there were several, and have distinguished them by the names of Fros, Anteros, and Cupido. But all their opinions are only allegories, tending to indicate the principle that attracts the two sexes, to perpetuate themselves. Fancy, which made a god of love, afterwards occupied itself in representing him various ways, to display his power over all creatures, or to express the characters of his essence. Artists at first depicted him as a young boy, either blind, or his eyes covered with a bandeau. Poets describe him dancing, and constantly sporting around the beings whom he wishes to seduce they usually give him wings, a bow, and arrows. Love is here represented naked and his wings spread open. he is trying to bend his bow. Visconti thought this charming figure to be a copy of the bronze Cupid that Lysippus executed for the Thespians. Without positively confuting this Antiquarian's opinion, several learned men have thought it might have been made from the Cupid of Praxiteles, in Pentelic marble, which Phryne gave to the town of Thespia, her native place. Other persons think that the statue by Praxiteles was draped. Pausanias and Junius mention these two statues, which perhaps resembled each other; but they do not indicate in a positive manner, either the attitudes, or the actions. This statue in Paros marble is in the French Museum : it has been engraved by Desnoyers. Height 3 feet 10 inches. ECOLE ITALIENNE. oooooooooo ALBANE. oooooo CABINET PARTICULIER. VÉNUS ABORDANT A CYTHERE. La déesse Vénus naquit, suivant Hésiode, près de l'île de Cythère. Placée sur un char à l'instant même de sa naissance, puis conduite en triomphe dans l'île de Cythère, où elle fut accueillie par Pitho, déesse de la Persuasion, et par les Heures, auxquelles on donne aussi le nom de Saisons. L'Albane, peintre des Grâces et des Amours, a suivi exactement le récit du poète. La déesse de la beauté est placée sur un char attelé de deux chevaux marins conduits par deux sirènes. Cupidon est assis près d'eux; d'autres Amours l'accompagnent en voltigeant dans les airs, tandis qu'une troupe semblable l'attend en dansant sur le rivage. Pitho, voyant venir la nouvelle déesse, lui tend les bras, et voit avec plaisir arriver la beauté qui, comme on sait, dans maintes circonstances, aide si puissamment la persuasion. Ce charmant tableau donne la plus haute idée du talent de l'Albane: tout est vivant, tout est gracieux; la couleur est des plus brillantes, et pour en augmenter l'éclat, le peintre a choisi le moment où le soleil se lève. Il fesait partie de la belle collection du comte de Vries à Vienne, et se trouve maintenant dans celle du prince Auguste d'Arenberg à Bruxelles. Une lithographie par Modon se trouve dans l'ouvrage publié par M. Sprigt en 1829. Larg., 5 pieds 2 pouces; haut., 3 pieds 8 pouces. ITALIAN SCHOOL.. .......000 ALBANI. 0000000000 PRIVATE COLLECTION. VENUS LANDING IN CYTHEREA. According to Hesiod, Venus was born near the island of Cytherea. Immediately on her birth she was placed on a car, and conveyed in triumph to the island of Cytherea, where she was welcomed by Pitho, the goddess of Persuasion, and by the Hours, to which the name of the Seasons is also applied. Albani, the painter of the Graces and Loves, has strictly followed the poet's description. The goddess of beauty is placed on a Car drawn by two sea-horses and led by two Sirens. Cupid is seated near: other Loves accompany and flutter in the air, whilst another similar band await dancing on the shore. Pitho, on seeing the new Goddess approach, opens her arms to her, and anticipates with pleasure the arrival of beauty, which, in many circumstances, as is well known, so powerfully assists persuasion. This delightful picture gives the highest opinion of Albani's talent it is all life and grace. The colouring is most splendid, and, to increase its brilliancy, the artist has chosen the moment wheu the sun is rising. It formed part of the Count de Vries' beautiful collection at Vienna, but it is now in that of Prince Augustus d'Arenberg, at Brussels. There is a lithographed print of it by Modon, in the work published, in 1829, by M. Sprigt. Width, 5 feet 6 inches; height, 3 feet 10 inches. |