The Cupid motif had occupied Schadow from around 1812, in other words, shortly after he arrived in Rome. However, his depiction of Hebe Serving Cupid a Drink, is only preserved in drawings. One can recognize the large wings, extending down to the hollows of the knees, which Schadow also employed in the seated Cupid.
Both antique and contemporary images provided him with inspiration. The Cupid tensing a bow (Rome, Capitoline Museums) depicts a boy of roughly the same age, although standing. He is leaning forward at a similar angle to Schadow’s Cupid.
The finger placed to the mouth goes back to Harpocrates, the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian child god Horus. Amongst the Greeks and Romans he was considered the lord of silence, the keeper of secrets and trust: an appropriate gesture for the moment when Cupid decides which of the girls to give the floral wreath.
Seated motifs and rocks can be found in antique depictions, such as Seated Hermes or Sleeping Faun. Clearly, Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Shepherd Boy (1817) and Mercury (1818) (22) also proved influential. Schadow cultivated a close relationship with him in Rome, and it was also Thorvaldsen who suggested that he sell Cupid in Berlin.
