Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)

SZILÁGYI András: Az Esterházy gyűjtemény Cupidós násfájáról

ANDRÁS SZILÁGYI CUPID SHOTTING AN ARROW A PENANT OF THE ESTERHÁZY COLLECTION Pendants decorated with figures, enamel and precious stones were extremely popular and frequent in sixteenth and seventeenth century jewellery. They have many variations, the rich selection of all the different types can scarcely be surveyed. The relief ornaments of these pendants are taken from the Old Testament, as well as from Classical mythology, coupled with allegorical figures and emblematic motifs. Some of the depicted subjects are enigmatic, hidden allegories, while others reveal a clear message. The beautiful pendants with a flying Cupid shooting an arrow in the centre belong to the second category. This popular type was modelled on Antique authors, whose works, adapted by further literature, were used as repeated panels in Renaissance poetry. "Love hurts and no man can heal the wound" says Propertius in his second elegy, and the "picture" is taken over and coloured by Petrarch, in the first part of his "Triumphus Cupidinis".

1 The different variations of the message are again well-known: love starts in a moment, suddenly and unexpectedly, like an arrow hits the middle of the heart of the unaware, defenceless victim. This popular interpretation was clearly manifested on all contemporary pictures as well as on pendants decorated with Cupids - by the Amor figures shooting an arrow. Yet pendants tell us slightly more. Due to their special function, these jewels send a peculiar, "individual" message as well. But what exactly? The answer can be approached without complicated philological explanations at the moment when we look at characteristic relics of a wide-spread type of mythology illustration. The most important of these, at least from our point of view, is the popular and accepted way of illustrating the triumph of Venus. On the 15th-16th century variants the goddess of beauty and love is equipped with her traditional attributes, which, on the other hand, are presented in different ways or in different grouping; the number of the possible variations are innumerable. The most popular among them, however, was the one where the composition is completed with Amor as a side-figure, shooting an arrow. The winged Amor or Cupid figure is sometimes depicted as running or appearing from clouds above the head of the goddess, ready to shoot his arrow. His role is similar to that of the dove pair pulling the goddess's cart: they are symbols - attributes - referring to the person of the goddess. There arc plenty of examples for similar compositions, including a fresco fragment - painted by Pcrugino's school , which was made in the beginning of the 16th century, and still decorates the ceiling of the Udienza del Cambio in Perugia.

2 A typical feature of Renaissance and Baroque art is that certain figures or topics of Classical mythology are given a special, actual message beyond their commonplace,