Cupid Secretly Drawing an Arrow

This clay model is a maquette for a sculpture in limestone more than three feet tall, entitled Cupid Disguised, Hiding Under a Veil . The motif is borrowed from the Marlborough cameo (an ancient Roman cameo now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. no. 99.101) that was a source of inspiration for neoclassical artists. The gem illustrates the wedding of Cupid and Psyche—shown as veiled children with protruding wings—from which Godecharle extracted the single figure of Cupid and, instead, depicted him in ambush.