Three Cupids, Two Playing Music, One Holding Palm Leaves

Louis Félix de La Rue created "Three Cupids, Two Playing Music, One Holding Palm Leaves" as an etching sometime in the mid-18th century. La Rue, a student of the famed sculptor Michelange Slodtz, evokes in this print a familiar vision of cherubic figures. These aren't just any children, but cupids, classical deities associated with love and desire. The artist transforms the erotic charge of these mythological figures into a playful, innocent scene of musicality. The cupids are engaged in joyful music-making, suggesting harmony and pleasure, common motifs in Rococo art. Rococo as a style privileged light-heartedness and ornamentation. Look at how La Rue plays with the conventional associations of these figures, softening their adult symbolism. He imagines them not as agents of passionate love, but as symbols of carefree joy. In doing so, La Rue invites us to consider the many dimensions of love and desire, from the innocent to the sensual.