Venus Disarming Cupid
Italian Neoclassical School, mid-19th century
White marble sculptural group
Dimensions: 90 × 60 × 30 cm, on painted wooden base
Group height: 76 cm – Total height: 168 cm
This refined marble group is inspired by a celebrated composition by Danish neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who poetically explored the tale of Cupid stung by a bee, drawn from Ode XL of Theocritus’ Idylls and the Anacreontic Odes.
In this tender mythological scene, Eros, pricked by a bee hidden among the roses, runs crying to his mother, the white-robed Venus of Cythera:
“Alas! I am dead, I am dying, mother! A tiny winged serpent—what farmers call a bee—has wounded me!”
To which Venus replies:
“If such a sting causes you pain, Cupid, imagine the torment of those you strike with your arrows.”
The sculptor of this group offers a graceful reinterpretation of the theme, depicting Venus gently stepping on Cupid’s bow — a symbolic act portraying the triumph of wisdom and reason over desire.
Related works:
– Bertel Thorvaldsen, Venus Disarming Cupid, ink drawing, 6.8 × 6.8 cm, Städel Museum, inv. 257 Z
– Bertel Thorvaldsen, Venus Consoling Cupid Stung by a Bee, marble bas-relief, 48 × 52 cm, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. 1581
Bibliography:
Elena di Majo, Bjarne Jornaes, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish Sculptor in Rome, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, 1989, model no. 12, p. 146
