Venus And Cupid - Follower Of Cornelis Van Haarlem (1562 - 1638)

This painting depicts the Roman goddess Venus with her son Cupid, who has his arm around his mother's shoulder as he leans in to kiss her on the cheek. In classical mythology their relationship is deeply intertwined, with the two figures often depicted together as symbols of both the pleasures and pains of love. This example, however, takes a more gentle approach to the subject. Both figures are shown as calm and serene, their closeness and faces turning towards one another in a private moment of affection between a mother and son rather than an allegory for carnal love.

Cupid is identified by a white wing protruding from his shoulder blade and the fletching of an arrow at Venus' breast. Venus wears a stunningly detailed double-string of pearls at her neck and tear-drop pear earrings, delicate drapery just visible around her shoulders.

The darkness of the background highlights the subtle pink of both figures' faces and draws the eye to the redness of their lips, foretelling the kiss Cupid will plant on his mother's cheek. These sentimental elements, and the close nature of the composition, creates a sense of intimacy.

The details of the work are rendered beautifully and with the utmost care- from the soft curls of both Venus and Cupid to the feathers of Cupid's wing and the light reflecting off Venus' pearls- the skill of the artist on full display.

Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

Born in Haarlem in 1562, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem was a pupil of Pietersz in Ghaarlem, whom raised him after his parents fled the city as the Spanish army laid seige in 1573 during the Eighty Years' war. He studied in Rouen, France and then later with Gillis Coignet in Antwerp, before returning to Haarlem where he remained for the rest of his life. He was a respected member of the Haarlem community, becoming city painter and receiving numerous official commissions. Cornelis married
Maritgen Arentsdr. Deyman, the daughter of a mayor of Haarlem, sometime before 1603 and in 1605, he inherited a third of his wealthy
father-in-law's estate.

As a painter of portraits, of both groups and individuals, he had an influence on the art of Frans Hals.

He is considered a member of the Haarlem Mannerists, a group highly influenced by the work of Bartholomeus Spranger. Along with Karel van Mander, Hendrick Goltzius, and other artists he started an informal drawing school in this style. Cornelis Also played a role in the failed attempt to make a new charter for the Haarlem Guild of St Luke in 1630, which tried to raise the status of artists.

Cornelis painted mainly portraits as well as mythological and religious subjects. Initially he painted large-scale and highly stylised works and Italianate nudes in twisted poses with grotesque, unnatural anatomy, though he later moved towards a style based on the Netherlandish realist tradition.

Paintings by him are held in the collections of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Bass Museum in Miami Beach as well as a number of other museums.