Frederick William MacMonnies (American, 1863–1937) Running Cupid and Standing Cupid (The Pair)

Literature

Mary Smart, A Flight With Fame-The Life and Art of Frederick Macmonnies; with E. Adina Gordon, The Sculpture of Frederick William MacMonnies: A Critical Catalogue, Sound View Press, Connecticut, 1996, p. 294, no. 41 (Running Cupid, another cast illustrated), p. 299, no. 42 (Standing Cupid, another cast illustrated) and pp. 458-61, 465-68, 486-88 (other models illustrated).
Catherine Gaiche et al., Augustus Saint-Gaudens: A Master of American Sculpture, an exhibition catalogue Somogy, Paris and Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, 1999, p. 96, fig. 74 (Running Cupid, another cast illustrated).
Conner Rosenkranz (text by Janis Conner), American Sculpture 1845-1945, New York, 2001, p. 24 (Standing Cupid, another cast illustrated).
Alice Levi Duncan, Cast and Carved: American Sculpture, 1850-1950, New York, 2004, pp. 38-9 (other casts illustrated).

Note

At the age of 17, Frederick MacMonnies served as an apprentice, and later an assistant to the famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In 1884 he traveled to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Colarossi. He briefly went on to study at the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts in Munich, and later at the École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Alexandre-Joseph Falguière, winning the Prix d’Atelier twice there. One of the most important Beaux-Arts sculptors of his day, MacMonnies was awarded major commissions, including the Columbian Fountain at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago.

Here, the sculptor depicts two figures of Cupid, with an emphasis on naturalism and a playful conveyance of the theme of love. Running Cupid elegantly stands on one foot turned away from the viewer, a bow in hand, having just unleashed an arrow, while Standing Cupid has a bow tucked just by his side, and the index finger of his right hand admonishing the viewer. The latter served as the 1898 model for Cupid, a 16 1/8 inch tall mixed media sculpture comprised of ivory, lapus lazuli, marble, silver alloy, gold, and other materials now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Provenance

Post Road Gallery, Larchmont, New York (Running Cupid); and Hirschl & Adler, New York, New York (Standing Cupid).

Acquired directly from the above.

Private Collection, New York.