Suffering: The Stauros Notebook
 
Suffering is a quarterly publication of Stauros USA
 
Editor
 Louise Dickey
Please use one of the indices below or the freeform search to locate articles of interest.
Author Index
Date Index
Title Index
Search
- or -
Return to Current Issue
Suffering: The Stauros Notebook.
Online version
ISSN 1557-976X.

Suffering: The Stauros Notebook is available by subscription in both high-quality print and on CD. The print version has compelling artwork accompanying the articles. The CD contains the recorded texts plus music, prayers, and songs that lead into deeper reflection. Click here to subscribe.

Copyright © 1982 - 2010 by Stauros U.S.A.
5401 S. Cornell Ave.; Chicago, IL 60615-5664
Articles may be reprinted with permission
Return to Stauros' Home Page
  THE STAUROS NOTEBOOK    VOLUME 20 NUMBER 4 WINTER 2001  print version
 

Images of Suffering: Cupid Chastised

by David Anderson

Bartolomeo Manfredi
Italian, c.1580 – c.1620
Cupid Chastised
1605/1610
oil on canvas, 175.3 x 130.6 cm
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1947.58
© The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved.

This disturbing and complex painting depicts the eternal human struggle over sexuality. Cupid, who lights fires of love in people’s hearts, is the son of Venus, the goddess of love. Here, Venus tries in vain to stop Mars, the god of war, from beating Cupid’s naked and blindfolded body with such rage that even the doves flee.

Open to many interpretations, the most obvious is the repression of sexual love by the forces of power, war, and might. This scene connects deeply with the ambivalence and uncertainty that accompany matters of sexuality in modern society.