Lot number 3768 - Auction
CHARMES D'AMOUR (LIEBESZAUBER)

ATTRIBUTED TO LOUIS DE BOULLOGNE 19 November 1654 Paris - 21 November 1733 Ibid CHARMES D'AMOUR (LOVE CHARM) Pencil on bluish handmade paper. Viewed size: 22,8 x 25,7 cm, mount size: 30 x 33. Inscribed at lower margin by a later hand: 'Les charmes d'amour tirée de Cesar ripa'. Further numbered in pencil at the bottom: '24973'. Min. stained, firmly mounted on the passepartout. The iconography of the depiction shown here with the naked Venus with wings on her back, holding the harp in her hands, refers to a text by Cesare Ripa: 'Iconology, in which the most important things that can occur to one concerning the vices and virtues are represented in various figures'. This was translated by Jean Baudoin in 1643. Literally it says: 'This figure is taken from an old medal in which Venus is represented quite naked, with wings on her back and a harp in her hands. Her nakedness shows her lascivious mood, the wings, her inconstancy and the harp she plays. Being ingenious in her charms, she attracts hearts not only by sight but also by hearing. Add to this the fact that her son Cupid presents her with a fad (mask of joy?!) to show that she loves nothing but frolic and laughter; Which the lyric poet expresses very well when he says to this: That of all the deities. Is both the most charming and the most beautiful; The laughter, the fire, the joys, And the little cupids fly around her.' Provenance: Private collection Lower Saxony.