Two Girls with Flowers by a Statue of Cupid

1713

This painting may be an allegory of the sense of smell. Two girls decorate a statue of Cupid with flowers, while the god of love himself smells a blossom. There seems to be no iconographical connection between this painting and its companion, A Girl Drawing and a Boy near a Statue of Venus(elsewhere on this wall). Pairs of paintings were extremely popular in the 18th century because they lent themselves to a symmetrical display.