Kneeling Cupid thumbnail 1
Kneeling Cupid thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 24, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries

Kneeling Cupid

Statuette
ca. 1730-1732 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This kneeling putti and the second corresponding one (V&A mus. no. 911-1855) are made by Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778) in ca. 1730-32. They may have been models for figures on a tomb.

Delvaux was trained in Antwerp under Pieter-Denis Plumier, with whom he was later to work in London alongside Peter Scheemakers on the monument of John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham in Westminster Abbey. Delvaux and Scheemakers went into partnership and executed monuments and some garden figures. In 1728 they lefty London for Rome where he remained until 1732, before returning to the Netherlands. While in Rome he executed a number of commissions for Italian and British patrons including John Russell 4th Duke of Bedford, who commissioned a number of works inspired by antique sculpture. He was appointed court sculptor in Brussels in 1733, and in 1734 settled in Nivelles where his workshop produced many religious works, including the monumental pulpit at St Bavo, Ghent. After 1750 he was employed by Charles of Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Netherlands, to produce decorative work for his residences in Brussels, Tervuren and Mariemont.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleKneeling Cupid (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Terracotta
Brief description
Statuette, terracotta, Kneeling Cupid, signed L.D. for Laurent Delvaux, South Netherlandish, ca. 1730
Physical description
A kneeling cupid with cornucopia of flowers.
Dimensions
  • Height: 29.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
'L.D.' (for Laurent Delvaux)
Object history
Purchased in 1855 for £1 0s 2d; vendor not recorded. A pendent figure to this was purchased at the same time (911-1855).
Production
This and the pendant putto were probably made in London.

Signed in monogram on the side of the pediment: L.D. A putto with cornucopia of flowers, similarly signed in monogram, is illustrated by Willame in his monograph on Delvaux. Similar putti signed L.D., and an unsigned figure of the Infant Hercules attributed to Delvaux, were included in a sale at Christie's, London, 8 December 1992, lots 59 to 61. Jacobs has noted the similarity between such figures and the putti adorning funerary monuments executed by the Delvaux and Scheemakers partnership, particularly that to Dr Hugh Chamberlen of c. 1730-2 in Westminster Abbey, suggesting an approximate date for the terracottas.. Malcolm Baker has however recently suggested that this present piece and its pendant might be later in date.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This kneeling putti and the second corresponding one (V&A mus. no. 911-1855) are made by Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778) in ca. 1730-32. They may have been models for figures on a tomb.

Delvaux was trained in Antwerp under Pieter-Denis Plumier, with whom he was later to work in London alongside Peter Scheemakers on the monument of John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham in Westminster Abbey. Delvaux and Scheemakers went into partnership and executed monuments and some garden figures. In 1728 they lefty London for Rome where he remained until 1732, before returning to the Netherlands. While in Rome he executed a number of commissions for Italian and British patrons including John Russell 4th Duke of Bedford, who commissioned a number of works inspired by antique sculpture. He was appointed court sculptor in Brussels in 1733, and in 1734 settled in Nivelles where his workshop produced many religious works, including the monumental pulpit at St Bavo, Ghent. After 1750 he was employed by Charles of Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Netherlands, to produce decorative work for his residences in Brussels, Tervuren and Mariemont.
Associated object
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1855. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 104
  • Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, p. 74, cat.no. 98
  • Willame, G. Laurent Delvaux 1696-1778. Brussels: 1914, pp. 82-83 (plate)
Collection
Accession number
910-1855

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Record createdApril 16, 2008
Record URL
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