DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0431
CUPID BENDING HIS BOW.
ANTIQUE STATUE.
Love, naked and on foot, is employed in bending
bis bow. The effort he makes compels him to extend
his thighs, and to incline forward the principal part
of his body. There exist several antique copies of
this figure, the original of which, in the opinion of
some antiquaries, is supposed to be the Cupid in
bronze; which, according to Pausanias, was executed
by Lvsippus for the Thespians. Certain other writers
have imagined they recognized in each of these copies
the Cupid of Praxiteles, celebrated by Callistrastes.
This latter sentiment has been cautiously received, it
being generally known that the Cupids of Praxiteles
are never represented in the attitude of casting the
arrow.
This statue, in white marble of Paris, is about
three feet ten inches in height. Its origin is not indi-
cated in the notice of the gallery of antiques. The
head, which is particularized, is certainly that of
a Cupid, but the motion of that head, which does
not appear to accord with the bust, has occasioned a
suspicion that it did not originally belong to the sta-
tue. The right arm, the right thigh, and the legs, are
the work of restoration.
15
ANTIQUE STATUE.
Love, naked and on foot, is employed in bending
bis bow. The effort he makes compels him to extend
his thighs, and to incline forward the principal part
of his body. There exist several antique copies of
this figure, the original of which, in the opinion of
some antiquaries, is supposed to be the Cupid in
bronze; which, according to Pausanias, was executed
by Lvsippus for the Thespians. Certain other writers
have imagined they recognized in each of these copies
the Cupid of Praxiteles, celebrated by Callistrastes.
This latter sentiment has been cautiously received, it
being generally known that the Cupids of Praxiteles
are never represented in the attitude of casting the
arrow.
This statue, in white marble of Paris, is about
three feet ten inches in height. Its origin is not indi-
cated in the notice of the gallery of antiques. The
head, which is particularized, is certainly that of
a Cupid, but the motion of that head, which does
not appear to accord with the bust, has occasioned a
suspicion that it did not originally belong to the sta-
tue. The right arm, the right thigh, and the legs, are
the work of restoration.
15