The brief 1890s revival of an older Cupid ended.
But baby Cupids had flourished
all along. In 1894, Bouguereau's admirer, Emile Munier
painted The Rescue. An
inexperienced baby Cupid has dropped his quiver, and a slightly older
Cupid uses his bow to fish it out of the stream. This
too-cute painting raises a
perplexing question: If baby Cupids grow older and more experienced, do they
all eventually grow up? Probably not to Munier, who spent
most of his life doing
sentimental paintings of clothed children. In 1904, J. M.
Barrie would write
Peter Pan about Never-Never Land, where boys never grow up.
And that is exactly
where Cupid has been stuck in the century since.