Cupids Harvesting

According to a handwritten note in an 1802 sale catalogue that was arranged by Dulwich's art dealer founder, Noel Desenfans, this little painting came from the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds. If so it was probably acquired in 1796 at a sale of Sir Joshua's collection held over several days in April, at Greenwood's auction house. Our founders were certainly present, and bought one or two other items. By then, they knew that their grand commission to buy a collection for the King of Poland had come to nothing, and their purchases were therefore, perhaps, not on the grand scale of the preceding five years. This little painting, on an oak panel, is charming but quite a long way from the brilliance of Rubens, as represented elsewhere in the collection.