Portrait of a Lady as Venus with Cupid

An unidentified sitter poses as a personification of Venus, the goddess of love. Pearls adorn her hair, ears, and neck and remind us that she was a deity born from the sea. Her hand gesture calls attention to her son Cupid, the god of erotic love, who sits beside her on a plush red cushion. Notably absent are his bow and arrows, a wound from which induces uncontrollable desire. Pierre Mignard thus presents his sitter as a Venus in contemporary dress who has disarmed Cupid of his power in favor of a higher spiritual love. Mignard is quoted as saying, “Most women have no idea of what it means to be painted as they are; they have a mental image of the beauty they wish to resemble, and it is this image that they want copied, not their face.” The artist entertains the sitter’s narcissistic desires by fulfilling her fantasy.