Sleeping Cupid
ca. 1560–1606
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 7 13/16 × 5 1/2 in. (19.9 × 14 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.96
Tags
Art Historical Context
Paolo Farinati's *Sleeping Cupid*, an exquisite etching from around 1560–1606, captures the mythological god of love in a moment of serene vulnerability. Reclining gracefully with his bow and arrow nearby, the youthful Cupid embodies the Renaissance fascination with classical antiquity, where the winged deity symbolized both desire and its fleeting power. Farinati, a Veronese Mannerist painter and printmaker (c. 1524–1606), drew inspiration from masters like Michelangelo, infusing his works with elongated forms and emotional intensity. Etching, a relatively new technique in the 16th century, ...
About the Artist
Paolo Farinati · 1524–1606
Italian painter and engraver. Comment on works: Religious