North Italian, mid-16th century

Possibly the Earls of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire;

Or Possibly O. Burchard, 10 Landsdowne Crescent, London and sold Christie’s, London, 18 June, 1968, lot 67;

With Mallet at Bourdon House, London;

Christie’s New York, 28 September, 1995, lot 30;

Collection of Paul W. Doll, Jr.;

Christie's New York, 20 October 2020, lot 137.

N. Wilkinson, Wilton House Guide: A handbook for visitors, London, 1908, p. 17, no. 136 (possibly an 'Alto-relievo of Cupid on a lion's skin') ;

Apollo, July 1963 (in an advertisement by Mallet).

In ancient Roman sculpture, the theme of the Sleeping Love, inspired by the Greek figure of Eros dormiens, conveys the gentleness, vulnerability, and restrained power of romantic affection. This motif, frequently found in domestic and funerary statuary, symbolizes a moment of rest — a pause in the turbulence of passion — and embodies ideals of moderation and self-control, particularly in the face of love’s shifting nature. On sarcophagi, the god’s sleep represents peaceful death, the serene passage from life to eternity.

Among the most renowned Renaissance reinterpretations of this theme is the anecdote recounted by Vasari about The Sleeping Cupid by the young Michelangelo — a marble sculpture created in the style of the ancients and deliberately aged to deceive its buyer, Cardinal Raffaele Riario (G. Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, 1505 and 1568). Although the deception caused a scandal in Rome, it ultimately allowed Michelangelo to demonstrate, through this now-lost work, the superiority of his art — rivaling the masters of Antiquity and surpassing that of his contemporaries.

The rounded features of Eros’s face, his tightly curled hair, and his softly modeled body reflect the influence of early 16th-century Venetian models, particularly those from the circles of Antonio Lombardo (c. 1458–1516) and Giovanni Antonio Mosca, known as Padovano (c. 1493 or 1495 – after 1573).