Art Institute of Chicago

Auction of the Cupids

Date: 1799
Medium: Etching on ivory wove paper
Culture: Germany
Department: Prints and Drawings
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

For the Auction of the Cupids , Johann Heinrich Ramberg combined his classicizing aspirations with frothy, titillating humor. The scene depicts winged putti being sold to the highest bidder in a verdant landscape. These charmed infants seem to gravitate naturally into the hands and under the skirts of the young and buxom; they are more reluctant to stay confined in the baskets of the elderly hags hoping for one more chance at love.

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Object type: AAT300041273

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