''Venus and Cupid'' or ''Venus, Mars and Cupid'' is a c.1554 oil on canvas painting by

Lambert Sustris Lambert Sustris (c. 1515/1520 – c. 1584) was a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice. The works Sustris completed in Italy exhibit either a Mannerist style or qualities that may be deemed proto-Baroque. He is also referred to as ''Alberto de ...

, entering the French royal collection of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1671 and now INV 1978 in the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, where it displayed in the Salle de la Joconde. The artist was then a studio assistant to

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

and draws on his master's use of colour. Possibly commissioned by a member of the

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. ...

banking family in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

(at least two of the five paintings by Sustris acquired by Louis are definitely known to have come from Augsburg). Before Louis XIV, it was probably owned

Everhard Jabach Everhard or Eberhard Jabach (10 July 1618 – 9 March 1695) was a French businessman, art collector, and director of the French East India Company. He was born in Cologne in the Holy Roman Empire but later naturalised as a French subject. Life H ...

, who seems to have owned all the Sustris works later acquired by Louis and may have bought an auction lot of works by the artist at a sale of the Fuggers' goods in Augsburg in 1650. Peltzer, Rudolf Arthur, « Lambert Sustris von Amsterdam », Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, XXXI, 1913, p. 230, n°6 p. 244 It was probably then bought from Jabach by superintendent

Nicolas Fouquet Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (; 27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous weal ...

, then sequestered from him under the guardianship of

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

in 1662 and fully seized by the king nine years later.

References

{{reflist category:1554 paintings category:Paintings of Venus category:Paintings of Cupid Paintings of Mars (mythology) Paintings in the Louvre by Dutch artists Nude paintings of women category:Nude paintings of children