Correggio - Venus & Cupid discovered by a satyr [1524-27]

Correggio -

Venus and Cupid with a Satyr, formerly entitled Jupiter and Antiope [1524-27]

Vénus et l'Amour découverts par un satyre

Louvre Inv 42 - wm

 

Identifying the work

In the 18th century, this painting was thought to portray Jupiter and Antiope, and it sometimes goes by that title still today. While it is true that according to myth Jupiter, greatest of all the gods, seduced Antiope in the form of a satyr, it is never stated that the latter was sleeping when discovered. In fact the flaming torch placed between Cupid (Eros) and the sleeping woman is an attribute of Venus, the goddess of love. It is with this torch that she combats the chaste Diana in the work by Perugino painted for Mantua, also found in the Louvre. Furthermore, the torch - like the arrows - is an attribute of Cupid: love has the capacity to enflame those affected by it and strike from afar. Thus we see here next to Venus the figure of Cupid, exhausted after his victory over Hercules, whose lion skin he won. The lion skin is a symbol of strength; here we find Cupid sleeping on it. The satyr - a half-man, half-goat creature who in Greco-Roman mythology is a demon of nature devoted to nymphs - serves here as the incarnation of indiscretion and prurience, despite the gesture that conceals his desire. With his right hand he shades the goddess, like the satyr who discovers Venus in the first volume of The Dream of Poliphilo, published in Venice in 1499.

 

This complex allegory of earthly love was probably accompanied by The School of Love (National Gallery, London), whose subject is rather heavenly love. Both works were painted around 1524-27, perhaps for Count Nicola Maffei, a close relative of Federico Gonzaga at whose home these two paintings could be found from 1536.

 

Author: Cécile Scailliérez

 

Source and even more information on the painting & its topic:

www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/venus-satyr-and-cupid

 

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