“Venus and Cupid” by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

Carrier-Belleuse (1824 – 1887) revived the spirit of Clodion in his terracotta and marble groups with “Venus and Cupid” and Bacchantes, reviving interest in the Rococo style in the third quarter of the 19th century.
This model is inspired by a composition by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809) for Sèvres.
Carrier-Belleuse imbues her interpretation of the subject with a playful eroticism that is characteristic of his Belle Époque sensibility. Versions of the model in marble are significantly rarer than those in terracotta.

Bibliography: J. Hargrove and G. Grandjean (2014), Carrier-Belleuse: Le maître de Rodin, exh. cat. Palais de Compiegne. pp. 124-126, no. 86, fig. 43

France, CIRCA 1870.