Cupid Riding a Dolphin
unknown (Copy after Luca Giordano)
Basic information
- ID
- Ж-1788
- Author
- unknown (Copy after Luca Giordano)
- Name
- Cupid Riding a Dolphin
- Date of creation
- 17th–18th c.
- Technique
- oil painting
- Material
- duplicated canvas oil
- Dimensions (height x width, cm)
- 115 x 97
Additionally
- Type
- painting
- Genre
- mythological painting
- Plot
- Cupid
- Provenance
- Collection of Lviv City Gallery
- Exposition
- Potocki Palace
Information about author
Object description
In the painting, Cupid, with a quiver of arrows on his back, stands on a dolphin. Three mythological tritons, resembling putti, surround him. They are depicted as having long ears and wings resembling fins. One of them is blowing into a seashell. In his outstretched left hand, Cupid holds a bow. The depiction can be associated with the myth of Galatea – the sea nymph, the most beautiful of the Nereids. In his "Metamorphoses", Ovid presents her as the lover of Acis, the son of Pan. When Acis's jealous rival, the Sicilian cyclops Polyphemus, killed him with a stone, Galatea transformed her lover's blood into the beautiful, clear River Aci (or Jaci) in Sicily. This version of the myth is based on the works of Ovid. According to the narrative, Cupid can be interpreted as having just shot an arrow at the cyclops on behalf of the gods. Cupid with a dolphin is interpreted as a playful motif in other contexts. In erotic scenes from mythology, Cupid riding a dolphin can symbolise the fleeting nature of love. Cupid on a dolphin was also depicted in scenes of the wedding of Neptune and Amphitrite.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
