L'Amour Menaçant Or Menacing Love A Statue by Falconet

In 1757 the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet made his famous statue L'Amour menacant - Menacing Love - for Madame de Pompadour, the celebrated mistress of Louis XV. By that time her passionate relationship with the king had already cooled, so why did she commission a statue of Cupid, the god of love? This and much more is explained in this Dossier. It examines the significance of the lifelike, captivating Cupid, traces the lives of Falconet and his leading patron, and discusses the sculptor's ideas about art and the worldwide imitation his creation enjoys to this day.