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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Cupids Carrying the Themes of the Picture
Gino Severini (Italian, 1883–1966)
1929
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
116.5 x 89.3 cm (45 7/8 x 35 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund
Accession NumberRES.32.16
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Severini’s work of the 1920s reflects his fascination with motifs from Italian history and art. Grouped here are architectural ruins from classical antiquity; a mask evoking both Bacchus, ancient god of wine, and traditional comedia del l’arte theatre; and musical instruments recalling the seventeenth-century Italian still lifes of Evaristo Baschenis. The arrangement is surmounted by cupids carrying still-life objects before a backdrop that surprisingly reverses sky and wall.
Signed
Lower right: G. Severini
Provenance1931, Léonce Rosenberg (b. 1877 - d. 1947), Paris; May 16, 1931, sold by Rosenberg to the MFA for $10,050 [see note 1]. (Accession Date: February 4, 1932)
NOTES:
[1] MFA accession numbers RES.32.2-RES.32.18 purchased together for $10,050.
NOTES:
[1] MFA accession numbers RES.32.2-RES.32.18 purchased together for $10,050.
Copyright© 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.