Cherubs and Putti: Coypel's Triomphe de Venus (1693)

For the last six months, I have been researching and studying Old Master drawings and Renaissance art. Just a whim really that put me outside my nominal interests for the Victorian era. My wanderlust approach was not necessarily in a deliberate, disciplined way but was a fun roaming of sources following those items that appealed to me in style or content.

Also, during the Fall of 2011, I knew I wanted to produce a stylistic and possible nude work in dry pastels prior to my planned visit to the Degas exhibit in Boston Museum of Fine Arts since I would be viewing many of his works in that media. I became interested in the content of angels, cherubs, and putti because of the holiday season. I selected a small, image from the left-hand side of Noel Coypel's Le Triomphe de Venus (1693) as a source of inspiration.

From that small putti, I developed an 18 inch x 26 inch pastel and framed it for the holidays.

Original Art: Le Triomphe de Venus 01, Copyright James E. Martin 2011

I had completed some fairly small pastel works previously...perhaps considered more Studies than anything of note. In this particular piece, I was fairly well pleased with the synthesis of Inspiration, Insight, and Formulation resulting in the Original Artifact. This was the first time I had produced a pastel of this size and it was very different  for me in content and style. It is my first "nude" so to say. There is some attempt to utilize a Renoir color palette but is timid in that regard because it doesn't go far enough with the brilliance of color value. Backing off the color vigor, though, provides a more serene, ethereal sense consistent with the subject matter. Perhaps.

However, lest I become exalted in any semblance of artistic pride, my first critic..... also known as my wonderful, out-spoken five year old daughter and therefore well-regarded.... entered the house, took one look at the framed work of a nude angel, and pronounced with a loud gutteral belly laugh...."butt crack".... therefore providing an alternative title to the effort. So this is an itsy bit about how Manet might have felt when Luncheon on the Grass aka Le dejeuner sur l'herbe (1863) and Olympia (1865) were introduced in their respective debuts as an artist's statement about Artistic Freedom. Freedom of Expression does indeed go both ways!

So much for the lofty heights of artistic Aesthetics. The Artistic Endeavor and the Dialog continues!