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The School of Love (Venus with Mercury, Teaching Cupid to Read)

Image credit: National Trust Images

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The trio are seen in a forest clearing. Venus is naked but stands in a bashful, decorous pose, loosely based on the classical Venus Pudica. Unusually, she is depicted with wings. Mercury, who is traditionally associated with calculation and therefore elementary education, is acting as teacher to Cupid. He is seated, wearing a winged hat rather than his usual helmet, and looking patiently on whilst Cupid is solving a problem.

This is a copy after the original painting by Correggio (now in the National Gallery, London), which was owned successively by the Gonzagas in Mantua, Charles I, the Duke of Alba, Emmanuel Godoy, and the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. The latter owned the painting in about 1822/1823 when it was probably copied.

National Trust, Stourhead

Warminster

Title

The School of Love (Venus with Mercury, Teaching Cupid to Read)

Date

18th C

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 134 x W 103 cm

Accession number

732153

Acquisition method

gift from Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare along with the estate, house and its contents, 1946

Work type

Painting

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National Trust, Stourhead

Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6QD England

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