''Bacchus, Venus and Cupid'' is a 1531-1532 oil on canvas painting attributed to

Rosso Fiorentino Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (8 March 1495 in Gregorian style, or 1494 according to the calculation of times in Florence where the year began on 25 March – 14 November 1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "Red Florentine" in Italian) ...

, now in the

National Museum of History and Art The National Museum of History and Art ( lb, Nationalmusée fir Geschicht a Konscht, french: Musée national d'histoire et d'art, german: Nationalmuseum für Geschichte und Kunst), abbreviated to MNHA, is a museum located in Luxembourg City, in ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. In two editions of ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'', Vasari described ''Cupid and Psyche'' and ''Bacchus and Venus'', two mythological oil paintings produced for

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...

by Fiorentino. In the first edition (1550) he recorded that the paintings were produced soon after the painter's arrival in France in 1530 and before

Primaticcio Francesco Primaticcio (April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian Mannerist painter, architect and sculptor who spent most of his career in France. Biography Born in Bologna, he trained under Giulio Romano in Mantua and became a pupil of I ...

's arrival two years later. They were both displayed at the end of the Francis I Gallery at

Fontainebleau Palace Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence f ...

. Almost nothing is known of the painting Vasari called ''Cupid and Psyche'', though it may relate to a ''Cupid and Venus'' for which a preparatory drawing survives in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. Béguin cautiously identified the Luxembourg work as the ''Bacchus and Venus'' mentioned by Vasari. Its poor-to-moderate condition means that it cannot be directly attributed to Fiorentino nor to any of his Fontainebleau collaborators, meaning that the theory that it is an autograph work by Fiorentino has been taken up and developed.

References

Bibliography

Antonio Natali Antonio Natali (born 1951) is an Italian art historian, academic and museum director. Born in Piombino, he headed several departments at the Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum locate ...

, ''Rosso Fiorentino'', Silvana Editore, Milano 2006. {{16C-painting-stub Paintings by Rosso Fiorentino Paintings of Bacchus Paintings of Venus Paintings of Cupid 1532 paintings