Portrait of a lady as Venus disarming Cupid

Large and imposing allegorical portrait of a younglady depicted as Venus surrounded by servants and cherubs.
Staged in the heavens, the young woman and her entourage are installed on the mythological chariot of Venus.
In the foreground, Cupid standing, leaning against the young woman, raises his arms towards the sky in a distraught gesture, he is punished by Venus and his bow has just been confiscated from him and is in the hand of one of the attendants . Completely naked, he carries his quiver filled with arrows over his shoulder.
The young woman appears to us slightly naked in the middle of her fluid and light fabrics with an antique spirit; a pleated white shirt reveals the shoulder and chest, held in place by an arm bracelet, she modestly raises the end of the large blue scarf to cover her breast.
Her powdered, brushed and raised hair are held back by a tiara, several locks falling freely on the shoulders intertwined with the rows of pearls.
Soft and calm expression, her wide blue eyes staring at the viewer, she seems detached from the tumult created by her surroundings. With her head tilted slightly, her perfectly oval face receives strong light in order to distinguish the portrait model from the added figures, imagined by the painter. Her white flesh almost transparent glows evoking porcelain contributes to underline her brilliance and justifies the disguise as Venus, the goddess of Beauty.
Her attendants, one of whom is wearing a turban, evoke the fashion for "turqueries" and the craze for exoticism and distant lands that took off in the Ages of Enlightenment.
The antique and oriental clothes position this allegorical portrait out of time while the fine and spontaneous brush of the painter exalts the freshness and the beauty of the young lady whose identity remains unknown.

Mid 18th century French School
Circle of Carle Van Loo ( Nice,1705 - Paris,1765 )

Dimensions: canvas: h. 146 cm, w. 120cm
Giltwood frame
Framed dimensions: h. 168 cm, w. 142cm

Our work, endowed with a graceful lightness and sensuality, evokes the emergence of the Rocaille style, worn by painters such as François Boucher, François Lemoyne, Charles-Joseph Natoire among many others. The influence of Carle Van Loo, precursor painter of the "turqueries" known for his mythological and allegorical paintings, is undeniable.
More than a traditional portrait, our artist seeks to update the mythological episode by mixing contemporary trends of his time and exotic elements while exalting the feminine sensuality of his model.