Cupid Tormenting Hearts

Johannes Takanen had a phenomenal sense of shape in his sensitive fingertips. He carved exquisite, tiny wooden animals that were accepted into the Finnish Art Society's exhibition when he was just fifteen. This delightful Cupid Tormenting Hearts is from 1881. The winged little boy with his bow and arrow has won three hearts, and with childlike glee is clearly enjoying tormenting them. The manner in which Takanen approached his subject is far from Neo-Classicist coolness, as the model for Cupid was his own beloved son Kullervo.