Venus and Cupid

Follower of Giovanni Bologna

National Gallery of Art

A nearly nude woman wrings out her long hair as a young boy peeks around one hip in this free-standing bronze fountain. In this photograph, the woman's hips and shoulders are squared toward us. Her face turns to our left, and she looks down in that direction so we see her in profile. She gathers her curly hair in a long tress and wrings it with both hands. Her right leg, to our left, is straight, and her other knee is bent so that foot rests on a stylized fish. Cloth drapes over the top of the bent thigh to cover her groin and falls between her legs to her ankles. The fish faces us with its mouth open and two canine-like teeth flanking a hole where water would have spouted. The child gazes around her left hip, to our right, so his eyes, snub nose, and one round cheek angle into view. He has a pile of short curls atop his head, and he holds out a conch shell with one hand. His feet straddle the woman’s in a wider stance so his left foot, to our right, rests with hers over the fish. The patina of the sculpture's polished bronze surface has turned minty green in some areas, especially on the back of the woman’s head, her arms, hands, along her left side, over the bent thigh, and the shell the boy holds. Other areas are darker gray. The pair stand on a piece of flat metal, which is on an off-white, stone pedestal against a light gray background.