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Your galleryEducation of Cupid
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Look at how the woman’s arms surround the child, then compare their illuminated skin with the dark vegetation enclosing them.
The title identifies the child as Cupid, giving this intimate grouping a setting in classical myth. Diaz painted it in oil on a wooden panel around 1859. Light concentrates on the faces, arms, and draped fabric, while the surrounding trees make a sheltered space for the figures.
Oil on panel · 37.8 × 24.6 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Barbizon School
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Education of Cupid
- Artist
- Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña (French, 1807–1876)
- Date
- c. 1859
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 37.8 × 24.6 cm (14 7/8 × 9 11/16 in.); Framed: 62.9 × 51.2 × 10.5 cm (24 3/4 × 20 1/8 × 4 1/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Dellora A. Norris
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.