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<p>[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 368705, member: 5833"]Good question. I don't think anyone has studied or written about cameos like this, or given them a name. Early in the 20th century, cameo cutting seems to have had a revival, after seriously falling off for a time. I think of it as sort of Italien Nouveau. Pieces from that time are much more skillfully done than contemporary productions, & work still had to be done completely by eye & hand. What changed radically was the subject matter. Old conventions & the tales behind them were a strong influence, but they began to be altered & recombined in fantastical ways.</p><p><br /></p><p>The elements in this one strike chords of the story of Cupid & Psyche, how Venus is beside herself at the idea of having a mortal for a daughter-in-law (& half-breed grandchildren), but how, despite her attempts to get Psyche killed, the girl is ultimately rescued & brought to Olympus, where she & Cupid are married.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are images of her ascension back on page 15 of this thread. Bouguereau depicted the two of them as young adults. On cameos it is more typical for Cupid to be left as the chubby toddler we think of while Psyche is grown up. Figures in the clouds are usually meant to be on Olympus, except in explicitly religious scenes. The torch is an attribute proper to both Cupid & Hymenaios, the god of marriage, dropped here because all 4 hands are needed to push & pull. The distraught soon-to-be mother-in-law is off to the side.</p><p><br /></p><p>This style has now (d)evolved into one that looks cartoonish to me & can be so scrambled there's no knowing what the cutter had in mind.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 368705, member: 5833"]Good question. I don't think anyone has studied or written about cameos like this, or given them a name. Early in the 20th century, cameo cutting seems to have had a revival, after seriously falling off for a time. I think of it as sort of Italien Nouveau. Pieces from that time are much more skillfully done than contemporary productions, & work still had to be done completely by eye & hand. What changed radically was the subject matter. Old conventions & the tales behind them were a strong influence, but they began to be altered & recombined in fantastical ways. The elements in this one strike chords of the story of Cupid & Psyche, how Venus is beside herself at the idea of having a mortal for a daughter-in-law (& half-breed grandchildren), but how, despite her attempts to get Psyche killed, the girl is ultimately rescued & brought to Olympus, where she & Cupid are married. There are images of her ascension back on page 15 of this thread. Bouguereau depicted the two of them as young adults. On cameos it is more typical for Cupid to be left as the chubby toddler we think of while Psyche is grown up. Figures in the clouds are usually meant to be on Olympus, except in explicitly religious scenes. The torch is an attribute proper to both Cupid & Hymenaios, the god of marriage, dropped here because all 4 hands are needed to push & pull. The distraught soon-to-be mother-in-law is off to the side. This style has now (d)evolved into one that looks cartoonish to me & can be so scrambled there's no knowing what the cutter had in mind.[/QUOTE]
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