The Education of Cupid (Venus, Mercury, and Cupid) by Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (Correggio, 1489 – Correggio, 1534)
Oil on canvas (157 x 93 cm - Framed 175 x 112 cm)
Full details of the work (click HERE)
The antique painting offered, of excellent quality, is a valuable study of the work by Antonio Allegri (Correggio circa 1489 - 1534), depicting 'The Education of Cupid', which is held in the National Gallery in London (oil on canvas, 155x92 cm).
Against a background characterized by dense vegetation, a winged female figure, traditionally recognized as Venus, leads the small Cupid to Mercury so that he may instruct him; the iconography of Mercury substantially respects tradition, both for the elaborate headdress, the petasus, and for the winged sandals for flying.
The history of this work is fascinating and noteworthy. Originally painted for the illustrious collection of the Mantuan nobleman Nicola Maffei, it then passed in the early 17th century to the Gonzaga family, with whom the Maffei were in close relations, and subsequently, in 1628, it left Italy to enter the collections of Charles I of England. Thanks to these passages, among the most famous collections in Europe, it obtained immediate success and exceptional fame from the sixteenth century onwards.
Desired and praised over the centuries, the work fascinated many artists who wanted to pay explicit homage to it, often to satisfy the requests of the most illustrious art collectors of the time, who wanted to own their own copy.
Other copies from Correggio are known in addition to the one in the National Gallery, including the one in the Château de Chenonceau, in France (Ref.1) and datable between the 17th and 18th centuries, which is very similar in pictorial style to the painting proposed here. Or that, also datable to around the 17th century from the Stourhead Wiltshire Collection, in England (Ref.6).
We can then mention the canvas exhibited at the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Romania, or those executed by other famous painters, contemporary or soon after, demonstrating the early success of the painting: among these, Lambert Sustris (circa 1515-1584), Peter Oliver (1589-1647) or Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585). Below: (Ref.2/3/4)
The great beauty of the painting also lies in its symbolic value of cultural complacency: the conceptual thesis starts from the small Cupid, capable of striking anyone with its arrows and igniting in them an unrestrained amorous passion, often the cause of negative consequences.
Venus then, as an intelligent and provident mother, aware of the unreasonableness of her small son, decides to educate her son preventatively to direct him towards good and learn to manage his amorous powers.
In a context of Renaissance humanism, she therefore chooses the young Mercury as his teacher, as he is an omnipresent and cunning god, bearer of Zeus' wishes and knower of everything.
Venus, completely naked here, magnificent in her divine nature, watches us with pleasure, thus emphasizing the importance of her educational decision, almost involving us in the perceptible warning about the excesses of Love, and smiles complacently.
Ref.1 by Antonio Allegri 'Correggio' (1489 – 1534), The Education of Cupid, Château de Chenonceau (Chenonceaux, France)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%27%C3%89ducation_de_l%27Amour_par_Le_Corr%C3%A8ge_(A).jpg
Ref.2 Antonio Allegri 'Correggio' (1489 – 1534), The Education of Cupid, Brukenthal National Museum
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Da_correggio,_venere,_marte_e_cupido.JPG
Ref.3 Lambert Sustris (1515 - 1568), The Education of Cupid, 1540/45, Oil on canvas, 181 x 116 cm, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas
https://research.rkd.nl/nl/detail/https%3A%2F%2Fdata.rkd.nl%2Fimages%2F292527
Ref.4 Peter Oliver (1589 - 1647), The Education of Cupid, 1634
https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/12/collection/452458/venus-mercury-and-cupid
Ref.5 Luca Cambiaso (1527 - 1585), The Education of Cupid, Private Collection
https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/34393/Anonimo,%20Educazione%20di%20Cupido
Ref.6 Follower of Correggio, 17th century, Stourhead Wiltshire Collection
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/732153
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The work is sold complete with a pleasant golden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
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