Seated Cupid
1776/1808
Medium
Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash on cream laid paper, tipped onto card
Dimensions
9.5 × 8.8 cm (3 3/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
83447
Art Historical Context
Samuel Shelley’s *Seated Cupid*, created sometime between 1776 and 1808, captures the youthful god of love in a compact and intimate study. Working in pen and brown ink with brush-applied brown wash on cream laid paper, Shelley used delicate linework and subtle tonal washes to model form and suggest soft shadows. The drawing measures just 9.5 by 8.8 centimeters, a scale typical of the artist’s miniature practice and well suited to private contemplation or as a preparatory idea. Shelley, an English painter active in the late eighteenth century, exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and was ...