{
"data": {
"id": 145452,
"accession_number": "1971.100",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Cupid (Amor), c. 1630. Johann Liss (German, c. 1597\u20131631). Oil on canvas; framed: 108 x 86 x 6.5 cm (42 1/2 x 33 7/8 x 2 9/16 in.); unframed: 87.7 x 65.7 cm (34 1/2 x 25 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1971.100",
"current_location": "217 Italian Baroque",
"title": "Cupid (Amor)",
"creation_date": "c. 1630",
"creation_date_earliest": 1625,
"creation_date_latest": 1635,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Germany"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - German before 1800",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 108 x 86 x 6.5 cm (42 1/2 x 33 7/8 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 87.7 x 65.7 cm (34 1/2 x 25 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 1.08,
"height_inch": 42,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
"width": 0.86,
"width_inch": 33,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"depth": 0.065,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5625
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.877,
"height_inch": 34,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
"width": 0.657,
"width_inch": 25,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301427,
"title": "Year in Review: 1971",
"description": "Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).",
"opening_date": "1971-12-28T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 216812,
"title": "Caravaggio: Behold the Man",
"description": "Caravaggio: Behold the Man. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2011-February 14, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2011-10-21T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 232167,
"title": "Le Caravagisme Europ\u00e9en",
"description": "Le Caravagisme Europ\u00e9en. Mus\u00e9e des Augustins, Toulouse, France (organizer) (June 22-October 14, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2012-06-22T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Mostra della pittura del Seicento e Settecento in Liguria, Palazzo Real, Genoa, Italy (1947).",
"opening_date": "1947-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "La pittura del Seicento a Venezia, Ca'Pissaro, Venice, Italy, (June 27\u2013October 25, 1959).",
"opening_date": "1959-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Year in Review: 1971, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (December 28, 1971\u2013February 6, 1972).",
"opening_date": "1972-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Johann Liss, Sadtische Kunstsammlungen, Augsburg, Germany (August 2, 1975\u2013November 2, 1975); Cleveland Museum of Art (December 17, 1975\u2013February 15, 1976).",
"opening_date": "1975-08-02T04:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Caravaggio: Behold the Man, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio (October 21, 2011\u2013February 5, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2011-10-21T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Le Caravagisme Europ\u00e9en, Mus\u00e9e des Augustins, Toulouse, France (June 22\u2013October 14, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2012-06-22T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1971\u2013present",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Heim Gallery, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art).",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "until 1971",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Probably Enrica Basevi, Genoa.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Alessandro\u2019s daughter, Enrica Basevi, wrote to CMA curator Anne Tzeutschler Lurie in 1972 that after the death of her father, his collection of paintings had been dispersed. It is unclear at this point whether the Liss was sold privately or at auction. It does appear that Enrica had the painting in her possession at least briefly after her father\u2019s death, as a certificate of authenticity for the painting was later found among her belongings.
"
],
"date": "likely beginning in 1959",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Alessandro Basevi [1877-1959], Genoa, probably by descent to his daughter, Enrica Basevi",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"In March 1944, Basevi\u2019s collection of silver, gold, and other precious objects was seized by the SS (J.B. Ward Perkins, letter to Chief, MFAA Branch, October 13, 1945, Subject: Property of Alessandro Basevi, Genova. Italian Miscellaneous Correspondence. Records Relating to Claims. Record Group 260. National Archives Identifier 1561450. M1926, Roll 111, pages 388-418. Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/274406062, retrieved May 21, 2014). It seems that Basevi retained possession of the Liss painting throughout the war, as no paintings appear on the list of items confiscated, and his grandson, Andrea Basevi, made no mention of its having been confiscated. The painting was certainly with Basevi in 1947, when he is listed as the owner in an exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Genoa.
"
],
"date": "1936\u20131959",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Galleria Pesaro, Milan, probably sold through Mauro Pellicioli to Alessandro Basevi).",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Andrea Basevi, Alessandro Basevi\u2019s grandson, recalled that his grandfather purchased the Liss in November 1936 from the Galleria Pesaro in Milan through a \u201cDr. Pellicioli\u201d \u2013 probably Mauro Pellicioli, a painter and restorer \u2013 who may have acted as an agent or otherwise facilitated the sale. In January of 1937, the Galleria Pesaro held a sale of the Agosti and Mendoza collection. The Liss painting does not appear in the sale catalogue, and thus Mauro Pellicioli, working with the Galleria Pesaro, probably sold it directly to Basevi. Pellicioli is known to have arranged a private treaty sale of a painting he was restoring in his studio on at least one occasion (Giovanni Battista Moroni's Portrait of a Gentleman of Distinction is currently with the heirs of the private collector with whom Pellicioli arranged a sale), and it is possible the Liss was sold through a similar arrangement with Basevi.
"
],
"date": "1936",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Agosti and Mendoza collection, probably consigned to the Galleria Pesaro.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Many of the works in the Agosti and Mendoza collection were formerly part of the Achillito Chiesa collection, which was sold in 1925-27 by the American Art Association in New York. The Liss painting is not listed in that sale catalogue, although that does not preclude the possibility Chiesa owned it at some point.
"
],
"date": "until 1936",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Liss skillfully combined Dutch, Flemish, and Italian styles to create his own distinct manner.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Johann Liss studied in Holland and Antwerp, and later (about 1620) traveled to Rome and Venice. His painting of Cupid\u2014also known as Amor, the god of love\u2014displays rich colors and fluid brushwork that were influenced by past Venetian masters (Titian, Tintoretto, or Veronese), while the deep contrasts of light and shadow reveal a stylistic debt to Caravaggio. The directness of Cupid\u2019s gaze and the concentrated energy of his pose create a strong connection with the viewer.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60471233"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1971.100-cupid-amor"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Hilaire, Michel, Axel H\u00e9mery, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Mus\u00e9e Fabre, and Mus\u00e9e des Augustins. Corps et Ombres : Caravage et Le Caravagisme Europ\u00e9en. Milan, Montpellier, Toulouse: 5 continents ; Mus\u00e9e Fabre ; Mus\u00e8e des Augustins, 2012.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 376\u20137",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Morassi, Antonio. Mostra della pittura del seicento e settecento in Liguria. Milano: Alfieri, 1947: 145.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Pietro Zampetti. La Pittura Del Seicento a Venezia; Catalogo Della Mostra. Venezia, Ca\u2019 Pesaro, 27 Giugno-25 Ottobre 1959. 2. ed. definitiva. Venezia: Edizioni Alfieri, 1959.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \u201cThe Year in Review for 1971.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 59, no. 1 (1972): 3\u201346.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 42; Reproduced: p. 13",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152412"
},
{
"citation": "R\u00fcdiger klessmann, Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, and Louise Richards. \"Johann Liss.\" Sadtische kunstsammlungen, 1975.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: cat. no. 29, pp. 23, 70, 101\u201304, 106, 108; Reproduced on color frontispiece",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler. \u201cLiss and the God of Love.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 10 (December 1975): 283\u2013290.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 283, fig. 1, Cover",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152613"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 134",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n154"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 174\u20136; Reproduced: p. 175",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Klessmann, Ru\u0308diger. Johann Liss: A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonne\u0301. Doornspijk, the Netherlands: Davaco, 1999.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Zeder, Olivier. \"L'Amour vainqueur.\" Corps et Ombres: Caravage et le Caravagisme Europ\u00e9. Milan: 5 Continents, 2012. no. 101, pp. 376\u20137.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1971.100",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_web.jpg",
"width": "669",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "362053",
"filename": "1971.100_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_print.jpg",
"width": "2546",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "5519423",
"filename": "1971.100_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_full.tif",
"width": "4349",
"height": "5807",
"filesize": "75805760",
"filename": "1971.100_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "717",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "122896"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt0_print.jpg",
"width": "2728",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "2108566"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt0_full.tif",
"width": "5402",
"height": "6732",
"filesize": "109134620"
},
"date_created": "2013-01-25T08:48:45",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt1_web.jpg",
"width": "720",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "126428"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt1_print.jpg",
"width": "2741",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "1756453"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_alt1_full.tif",
"width": "6000",
"height": "7440",
"filesize": "133962756"
},
"date_created": "2013-01-24T15:47:13",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Donna and James Reid Gallery",
"athena_id": 145452,
"creators": [
{
"id": 2957,
"description": "Johann Liss (German, c. 1597\u20131631)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1597",
"death_year": "1631",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1971-09-08T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1625,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1630",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": true,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-07-22 11:09:13.330000"
}
}