Portrait of a boy as cupid

Portrait of a Boy as Cupid from 1680 by Nicolaes Maes depicts a child in the guise of the god of love, a portrait convention that combined charm with classical reference. Such mythological child portraits were fashionable among the Dutch elite in the later seventeenth century, giving commissions the additional cultural prestige of antique allusion while retaining the individual character of a genuine child likeness. Maes trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the early 1650s before establishing himself as an independent master. His mature portrait style absorbed Flemish elegance—producing fashionable likenesses with looser brushwork and warmer flesh tones. The boy-as-Cupid motif allows Maes to combine naturalistic child portraiture with mythological accessories, rendered in his mature, polished technique.

The boy-as-Cupid motif allows Maes to combine naturalistic child portraiture with mythological accessories, rendered in his mature, polished technique.