Perfectus amor non est nisi ad unum

Added 1610794841 by PsycheFineArt.

As a result of the discussion engendered by Johannah's upload of this image, I will give here a reasonably full explanation of its background. Of the 36 surviving paintings by the Delft artist Jan Vermeer (1632-75) three contain an image of a Cupid and x-ray examination shows that he over-painted another in a fourth. The best known, at least in the United Kingdom, is that often titled 'Lady standing at a virginal' in the National Gallery, where the painting of a Cupid on the wall behind the subject tends to dominate the entire picture. In 'Girl interrupted at her music' (Frick Collection, New York) a very similar image plays a very similar role, but in this case it has only been sketched in, even allowing for the fact that this work has suffered a degree of damage to its surface. Both these instances may be representations of a painted Cupid actually in Vermeer's possession and listed in an inventory drawn up after his death, just as he featured more than once Dirck von Baburen's 'The Procuress' of c.1620, which belonged to his mother-in-law, with whom he lived. In 'A Lady seated at a virginal' (National Gallery) this occupies a prominent position but has only been sketched, in a similar manner to the Cupid in the Frick Collection. The third instance is rather different. In 'A Girl asleep' (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) a small portion of a painting appears top left, and it shows a leg and a discarded mask. This strongly suggests that Vermeer's treatment of Cupids did not derive solely from a painting in his possession, but also owed something to Otto van Veen's 'Amorum Emblemata' (Antwerp, 1608); this can be downloaded as a pdf from the Internet Archive. It extends to 247 pages, each opening having an image of Cupid engaged in various activities on the right and an explanation of their significance in Latin, Dutch (I think) and French on the left. The first (pp.2-3) is titled Perfectus amor non est nisi ad unum (Perfect love is only for one) and shows Cupid holding aloft a board or card bearing the number one and stepping with his right foot on another showing the numbers 2-10. On pp. 34-5 under the title Inconcussa fide (Unshaken love - Van Veen quoted Cicero here, In Amore nihil fictum... In Love there is nothing false...) Cupid holds up a ring in his left hand and his left foot is placed on a mask lying on the ground. This is similar enough to the 'Girl asleep' painting for there to be some relationship between them, even if it did not necessarily extend to direct use by Vermeer of van Veen's book.

To return to the photograph, Johannah holds the ace and below it are other cards which have been discarded, along with a mask to indicate the abandonment of all deception. At the bottom left of the screen is the first of the van Veen images described above. In the Golden Age I guess that none of this would have needed to be described to those who commissioned or bought paintings, because the symbolism they contained was a common language to the affluent and well informed social group concerned. If so, features of the art of that period which now seem enigmatic were not necessarily so at the time they were created.

References

Bailey, M. 'Vermeer', (London, 1995).