Victorious Amoretti. Late 19th century. Bronze

This sculptural group presents a series of riddles. Why are there three amoretti (the winged children dispatched by the love goddess Venus), who are symbolic of love? Are they competing or are they all victorious? Why are they holding different items? It is unusual to see a composition comprised of putti carrying three different symbols. Apparently the artist based the work on the Christian teaching that divides humans into body, soul and spirit. In this case, the amoretto carrying the rose on the tip of an arrow embodies the corporeal, the little boy with the flaming heart, the soulful, and the fastest child raising the victory torch, spiritual love. After all, one of the symbolic meanings of a torch is the bringing of spiritual light.

The artist, Jean-Louis Grégoire, was a French sculptor who worked in Paris in the second half of the 19th century.