Cupid caught in the net by Ercole Rosa

CUPID CAUGHT IN THE NET BY ERCOLE ROSA

Description: Cupid has dropped his quiver and an arrow on the ground at his feet and struggles, in a gesture full of tension and childish anger, in the effort to free himself from a tightly-woven net in which he is partially trapped. Whilst his contorted pose is of Mannerist inspiration, the idea of the figure caught in a net is derived from Baroque virtuoso sculpture and brings to mind the Disillusionment executed between 1753-1754 by Francesco Queirolo (1704-1762) for the Sansevero Chapel in Naples.
The original plaster model of « Love Caught in the Net » is listed among those in Rosa’s studio in Via di Ripetta and auctioned between 20 and 21 March 1894, after his death. 

The Roman Ercole Rosa (Roma, 1846 – 1893)

Considered by the critic Francesco Sapori to be the « most powerful Italian sculptor of the 19 century », the Roman Ercole Rosa, author of this masterful Cupid Caught in the Net, was certainly one of the protagonists of sculpture in the decades immediately following the unification of Italy and the establishment of Rome as its capital from 1870.

Material : White Carrara marble. Original column in portor and arabescato.

Height : 130 cm 

Diameter of base : 30 cm

Period : CA. 1875-77