The ''Sleeping Cupid'' is a, now-lost, sculpture created by Renaissance artist
Michelangelo, which he artificially aged to make it look like an antique on the advice of
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco in order to sell for a higher price. It was this sculpture which first brought him to the attention of patrons in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
Creation
Michelangelo began working on his sleeping
cupid in 1495, in
Florence, Italy. It was never said by Michelangelo as to why he carved a sculpture of a cupid, but it is known that he studied a sculpture in the
Medici Gardens that contained a sleeping cupid.
Michelangelo's work was described by
Ascanio Condivi, Italian Painter, as, "a god of love, aged six or seven years old and asleep".
Description
Michelangelo created the sculpture and then passed it onto a dealer, Baldassare del Milanese. Eventually the sleeping cupid was bought by
Cardinal Riario of San Giorgio, controversy arose when he discovered the statue was falsely aged and demanded his money back. However, Michelangelo was permitted to keep his share of the money.
When Michelangelo offered to take the sculpture back from Baldassare when he learned how much money he made off of selling it, Baldassare refused, saying, "he would rather break it into a hundred pieces; he had bought the child, and it was his property".
The ''Sleeping Cupid'' was a significant work in establishing the reputation of the young Michelangelo, who was 21 at the time. The sculpture was later donated by
Cesare Borgia to
Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whos ...
, and was probably collected by
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...
when all the
Gonzaga collections were bought and taken to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in the seventeenth century.
It was previously impossible to attempt to identify Michelangelo's cupid, until Paul Norton's proposal that Michelangelo's work may be in the ''Album of Busts and Statues in Whitehall.''
This led to one of the cupids on the album to be thought to be Michelangelo's lost cupid, as the description matches quite well. But it is still unknown if this is the exact one Michelangelo created, as there is no record the statue after the original sale.
Destruction
In 1698, the ''Sleeping Cupid'' was most likely destroyed in the great fire in the
Palace of Whitehall,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
along with many other fine works of art.
It is unknown what happened to the sculpture.
See also
*
List of works by Michelangelo
References
Sculptures by Michelangelo
Lost sculptures
Sculpture forgeries
1496 sculptures
Sculptures of Cupid
Gonzaga art collection
{{Italy-sculpture-stub
European sculpture
Michelangelo