Cupid Chastised

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1613

Bartolomeo Manfredi (Italian, 1582–1622)

Cupid Chastised depicts a moment of high drama: Mars, the god of war, violently whips the young boy, Cupid, as punishment for embroiling the god in an affair with the boy’s mother, Venus, the goddess of love. Venus tries in vain to stop the beating. Surrounded by darkness, the three ﬁgures are boldly illuminated from the left, intensifying the composition’s dynamism and impact. The physicality of the ﬁgures conveys the violent discord of the scene: the crouching, wide-eyed Venus; the furious, muscular Mars; and Cupid, whose naked ﬂesh and recumbent position render him particularly vulnerable. On one level a tale of interpersonal conﬂict, the story also symbolizes the eternal conﬂict between love and war.

Bartolomeo Manfredi chose to depict ordinary individuals in scenes from the Bible and Greek and Roman mythology. In so doing, he was following the example of the revolutionary early seventeenth-century artist Caravaggio, who had demonstrated to an entire generation of European artists that such lofty themes could be transformed into events experienced by ordinary people. Manfredi began his career as an artist in Rome by producing copies of Caravaggio’s works, including a painting (now lost) that likely inspired Cupid Chastised, commissioned by Caravaggio’s ﬁrst major patron, the inﬂuential collector Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Manfredi carried the Caravaggesque style forward, assimilating and adapting elements of the older artist’s approach, like the naturalistic portrayal of studio models in mythological roles and the dramatic contrast of light and shadow, known in Italian as chiaroscuro.

Status: On View, Gallery 211
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Bartolomeo Manfredi
Title: Cupid Chastised
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1613
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 175.3 × 130.6 cm (69 × 51 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1947.58
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/59847/manifest.json

Giulio Mancini, Considerazioni sulla pittura, 1619-21, vol. 1 (Rome, 1956), p. 251.
Anna, Lady Miller (née Anna Riggs), Letters from Italy vol. 3 (Dublin, 1776), p. 72.
Ettore Sestieri, “Un Caravaggio di più,” L’ Arte 8 (October 1937), pp. 264-283, figs. 1, 4,7,9, 13, 15.
Hermann Voss, “The Chastisement of Love by Caravaggio,” Apollo 27 (1938), pp. 31-2, ill. op. p. 31.
Thomas Carr Howe, Jr., “San Francisco Explores An Era Rediscovered by Modern Taste,” Art News 40 (1941), p. 28, ill.
N[uma] S. Trivias, “Italian Baroque Painting in San Francisco,” Apollo 34 (1941), p. 44, ill on cover.
George Isarlo, Caravage et le Caravagisme européen (Aix-en-Provence, 1941), p. 93.
Roberto Longhi, “Ultimi studi sul Caravaggio e la sua cerchia,” in Proporzioni, studi di storia dell’arte, ed. by Roberto Longhi, vol. 1 (Florence, 1943), pp. 25, 49, fig. 53.
Katharine Kuh, “The Worcester Gift,” The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 41 (1947), pp. 59, 61, p. 62, ill.
“Chicago’s Worcester Collection,” Art News 47 (1947), p. 37, p. 36, ill.
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1948), p. 26, ill.
“The Glory of Italian Painting: The Highest Peak of Art Since Ancient Greece,” Masterpieces 1 (1950) p. 28, ill. p. 29.
Ugo Galetti and Ettore Camesasca, Enciclopedia della pittura italiana, vol. 2 (Milan, 1950), pp. 1534-35.
Carla Guglielmi, “Intorno all’opera pittorica di Giovanni Baglione,” Bollettino d’arte 39 (1954), p. 325, n. 17.
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Valentino Martinelli, “L’Amor divino ‘tutto ignudo’ di Giovanni Baglione e la cronologia dell’ intermezzo caravaggesco,” Arte Antica e Moderna 5 (1959), p. 96.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1961), p. 273, p. 56, ill.
Hans Huth, “Italienische Kunstwerke im Art Institute von Chicago, USA,” Römische Forschungen der Biblioteca Hertziana, vol. 16 (1961), p. 518.
Alfred Moir, “‘Boy with a Flute’ by Bartolomeo Manfredi,” Los Angeles County Museum Bulletin of the Art Division 13 (January-March 1961), pp. 3-4, 13, fig. 2.
Alfred Moir, Art in Italy 1600-1700, exhib. cat. (Detroit Institute of Arts, 1965), pp. 30-31, under no. 9.
Evelina Borea, Caravaggio e i Caravaggeschi (Milan, 1966), fig. 9.
Alfred Moir, The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 30, 42-3, 58, 61-2, 64, 87, 124, 305; II, 37, 84, fig. 47.
Benedict Nicolson, “Bartolommeo Manfredi,” in Studies in Renaissance & Baroque Art presented to Anthony Blunt on his 60th Birthday (London and New York, 1967), pp. 110-1.
Angela Ottino della Chiesa, L’opera completa del Caravaggio (Milan, 1967), p. 110, no. 115, ill.
Michael Kitson, The Complete Paintings of Caravaggio (New York, 1967), p. 111, no. 115, ill.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 42-3, ill., 283.
Carlo Volpe, “Caravaggio e caravaggeschi nelle Gallerie di Firenze,” Paragone 21 (November 1970), p. 115.
Mina Gregori, “Caravaggio O.K.,” Bolaffiarte 2 (November 1971), p. 9.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Mass., 1972) pp. 118, 470, 571.
Evelina Borea, “Considerazioni sulla Mostra ‘Caravaggio e i suoi seguaci’ a Cleveland,” Bollettino d’Arte 57 (1972), p. 161, fig. 13.
Julius S. Held, “Caravaggio and His Followers,” Art in America 60 (May-June 1972), pp. 43-44, ill. p. 46.
Richard E. Spear, “Unknown Pictures by the Caravaggisti (with Notes on ‘Caravaggio and His Followers’),” Storia dell’arte 14 (1972), p. 160.
Robert Enggass, “Richard E. Spear’s ‘Caravaggio and His Followers’,” The Art Bulletin 55 (1973), p. 461.
Maurizio Marini, Io Michelangelo da Caravaggio (Rome, 1974), pp. 346-7, under no. 10.
Luigi Salerno, “A Painting by Manfredi from the Giustiniani Collection,” Burlington Magazine 116 (1974), p. 616.
Livia Moscone, “Bartolomeo Manfredi,” in Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani dall’XI al XX secolo vol. 7 (Turin, 1975), p. 142.
Alfred Moir, Caravaggio and His Copyists (New York, 1976), p. 143, no. 240iv.
Arnauld Bréjon, “New Paintings by Bartolomeo Manfredi, Burlington Magazine 121 (1979), p. 309.
Benedict Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and his Followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650 (Oxford, 1979), pp. 70, 210, 226.
Charles McCorquodale, The Baroque Painters of Italy (Oxford, 1979), pp. 32-33, ill.
Seymour Howard, “Identity Formation and Image Reference in the Narrative Sculpture of Bernini’s Early Maturity: Hercules and Hydra & Eros Triumphant,” The Art Quarterly 2 (1979), pp. 70, 210, 226.
Jean Pierre Cuzin, “Manfredi’s Fortune Teller and Some Problems of ‘Manfrediana Methodus’,” Bulletin of The Detroit Institute of Arts 58 (1980), p. 22.
Klára Garas, “Unbekannte italienische Gemälde in Gotha: Probleme um Bigot und Manfredi, Acta Historiae Artium 26 (1980), p. 274.
John T. Spike, Italian Baroque Paintings From New York Private Collections, exhib. cat. (The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1980), p. 76.
Ágnes Szigheti, “Variazioni sul triangolo ancora una volta sul dipinto di battistello a Budapest: Adamo ed Eva piangono su abele,” Acta Historiae Artium 28 (1982), p. 298, pl. 7.
Richard E. Spear, The Age of Caravaggio, exhib. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985), pp. 90-2, under no. 15.
John T. Spike, “Letter From New York: The Age of Caravaggio,” Apollo 121 (1985), p. 416.
Alfred Moir, “An examination of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s ‘Cupid Chastised’,” The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 11 (1985), pp. 157-67, ill. op. p. 157.
“Chicago 1986 - A Critic’s Poll,” New Art Examiner 13 (May 1986), p. 32, ill. p. 30.
Mina Gregori, “Dal Caravaggio al Manfredi,” in Dopo Caravaggio: Bartolomeo Manfredi e la Manfrediana Methodus, exhib. cat. (Centro Culturale Città di Cremona, Santa Maria della Pietà, 1987), pp. 15-18, 23, ill.
Giuseppe Merlo, “Ipotesi per il percorso del Manfredi,” in Dopo Caravaggio: Bartolomeo Manfredi e la Manfrediana Methodus, exhib. cat. (Centro Culturale Città di Cremona, Santa Maria della Pietà, 1987), pp. 27, 29, 60, under no. 2, 62-3, under no. 3, 64, under no. 4, 70, under no. 7, 74, under no. 9, 82, under no. 13.
Raffaella Morselli, “La fortuna critica,” in Dopo Caravaggio: Bartolomeo Manfredi e la Manfrediana Methodus, exhib. cat. (Centro Culturale Città di Cremona, Santa Maria della Pietà, 1987), p. 40.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), pp. 9, 26, ill.
Erich Schleier, “La pittura a Roma nel Seicento,” in La pittura in Italia: Il Seicento, vol. 1 (Milan, 1988), p. 441, fig. 265.
Gianni Papi, “Manfredi Bartolomeo,” in La pittura in Italia: Il Seicento, vol. 2 (Milan, 1988), p. 799.
Hugh Brigstoke, review, “Cremona Manfredi e la Manfrediana Methodus,” Burlington Magazine 130 (November 1988), pp. 875-7.
Benedict Nicholson, Caravaggism in Europe (Turin, 1989), vol. 1, pp. 21, 40, 142, 221, vol. 2, pl. 292.
Peter C. Sutton, “A Pair by Van Bjilert,” Hoogsteder-Nauman Mercury 8 (1989), pp. 4 ff, fig. 11.
R. Bruce Dold, “‘Erotic’ Art? Many just don’t see it,” Chicago Tribune (April 27, 1990), sec. 2, pp. 1, 4, ill.
Robin Simon, “The Bottom Line,” The Spectator (3 March 1990), pp. 45-46.
Almamaria Mignosi Tantillo, “I Chigi ad ariccia nel ‘600,” in L’arte per i Papi e per I principi nella campagna romana grande pittura del ’600 e del ’700, exhib. cat. (Rome, Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia, 1990), pp. 104, n. 94.
M. Kirby Tally, Jr., “Bartolommeo Manfredi in Caravaggio’s Shadow,” Art News 90, no. 10 (1991), p. 45-6, ill.
Gianni Papi, Cecco del Caravaggio (Florence, 1992), pp. 20, 55, fig. 14.
Rita Randolphi, “La vita di Bartolomeo Manfredi nei documenti romani e un’ipotesi sulla sua formazione artistica,” Storia dell’arte 74 (1992), pp. 84-5.
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Raffaella Morselli, “Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622): Sandrart, al collezionista olandese Balthasar Coymans e alcune nuove proposte,” Antichità viva 3-4 (1993), p. 27.
Maria Giulia Aurigemma, “Del cavalier Baglione,” Storia dell’arte 80 (1994), p. 45, n. 98.
Anna Ottani Cavina, “Un dipinto di Cecco del Caravaggio,” in Studi di Storia dell’ Arte in onore di Mina Gregori, ed. by Elisa Acanfora and Micaela Sambucco Hamond (Milan, 1994), p. 159.
Rita Randolfi, “Bartolomeo Manfredi e la moda del tempo: signifcati e cronolgie,” in Caravaggio e il caravaggismo: dal corso di storia dell’arte moderna I, ed. by Silvia Danesi Squarzina, Giovanna Capitelli, Caterina Volpi (Rome, 1995), p. 180, fig. 3.
John J. Chvostal, “Bartolomeo Manfredi,” in The Dictionary of Art vol. 20 (London, 1996), pp. 265-7, fig. 1.
Gianni Papi, “Caravaggio e Cecco,” in Come dipingeva il Caravaggio, ed. by Mina Gregori (Milan, 1996), pp. 126-28.
Zygmunt Wazbinski, “Bartolomeo Manfredi alla luce dei nuovi documenti: Un artista Caravaggesco e il mercato Romano nel secondo decennio del seicento,” Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie: Various Aspects of Caravaggism 37 (1996), pp. 137-52.
Michele Maccherini, “Caravaggio nel carteggio familiare di Giulio Mancini,” Prospettiva (1997), pp. 71-2 (ill.), 76, 79, 84, 88.
Roger Ward, “Those Who Came Before: Caravaggio and His Principle Italian Followers,” in Sinners and Saints: Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers, exhib. cat. (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1997), pp. 27-8, ill., fig. 15.
Almamaria Mignosi Tantillo, “I Chigi tra committenza e collezionismo,” in Alessandro VII Chigi (1599-1667): Il Papa Senese di Roma Moderna, exhib. cat. (Palazzo Pubblico and Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, Siena, 2000-2001), p. 339.
Bernardina Sani, “Familia e città d’origine: Siena 1599-1626,” in Alessandro VII Chigi (1599-1667): Il Papa Senese di Roma Moderna , exhib. cat. (Palazzo Pubblico and Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, Siena, 2000-2001), pp. 45, 58, 74-5, 83.
Gianni Papi, Cecco del Caravaggio (Soncino, 2001), p. 18, fig. 5.
Nicole Hartje, Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622): Ein Nachfolger Caravaggios und seine Europäische Wirkung: Monografie und Werkverzeichnis (Weimar, 2004), pp. 104-10, 291-93, no. A1, fig. 1.
Sandra Richards, “Caravaggio’s Roman Collectors,” Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome, Exh. cat. (Yale UP, 2012), p. 64, 65, (ill.).
Sebastian Smee, “Shame begets violence — and love pays the price: Manfredi’s painting of Cupid being beaten invites a modern interpretation,” Washington Post, November 4, 2020 < https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/entertainment/bartolomeo-manfredi-cupid-chastised/>
James Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 31 (ill.).

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of Italian Baroque Painting 17th and 18th Centuries, 1941, cat. 13 (ill. as Caravaggio).
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Mostra del Caravaggio e dei caravaggeschi, 1951, cat. 62, fig. 59, as school of Caravaggio.
Seattle Art Museum, Caravaggio and the Tenebrosi, 1954, no. cat., no. 3 on checklist, as school of Caravaggio.
Cleveland Museum of Art, Caravaggio and His Followers, 1971, cat. 44, p. 129, cat. by Richard E. Spear.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Age of Caravaggio, 1985, cat. 45 (ill.), traveled to Naples.
Art Institute of Chicago, Among Friends and Rivals: Caravaggio in Rome, Sep. 8-Dec. 31, 2023, no cat.

Commissioned by Agostino Chigi (died 1644), Siena, through the agency of Giulio Mancini in March 1613; painting completed by October 1613 [see Wazbinski, 1996]; by descent in the Chigi family, Siena and Rome [recorded in 1644 Chigi inventory: “Un quadro con cornici di noce di alto braccia due 3/4 large braccia due rappresenta un soldato [Mars] che spezza [Amour] presente Venere, la quale cerca difenderlo, opera di Bartolomeo Manfredi Milanese scudi cento 100,” see Archivio Chigi Armadio CCCLI]; by descent to Fabio Chigi, later Pope Alexander VII (died 1667), Rome [recorded in 1657 Chigi inventory, no. 57, “Un quadro dipinto di un Marte che spezza Amore e Venere che finge tenerlo [illegible] con strata alto p[a]lmi 7 incirca largo 5 1/2 incirca di Bartolomeo Manfredi con cornice dorata liscia,” see Archivio Chigi Armadio CCCLXXXI]; by descent to his nephew, Agostino Chigi III, Rome (died 1705) [Moir, 1985]; by descent to Prince Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (1866-1951), Palazzo Chigi, Rome until at least 1917; the painting was probably moved to Ludovico Chigi’s residence in Ariccia, near Rome, 1917, when the palazzo became property of the Italian government [according to c. 1983 draft of Moir article in Museum studies 1985, copy in curatorial file]. Armando Brasini (1879-1965), Rome, by c. 1935 [according to Carlo Sestieri’s letter, October 3, 1988, in curatorial file stating that he saw it there when he was 13]; Wildenstein and Company, New York and Paris, by 1938 [Voss 1938, p. 30 and Moir 1985]; sold by Wildenstein to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, 1939 [letters from Wildenstein to Worcester, Nov. 16 and 21, 1939, in curatorial file]; lent to the Art Institute from 1939; given to the Art Institute, 1947.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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