- Artist
- William-Adolphe Bouguereau
- Year
- c. 1880
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 81.6 × 57.8 cm
Public Domain
J. Paul Getty Museum
A young nude woman sits with her arms outstretched, pushing away the winged boy Cupid, who holds up an arrow to pierce her; the title says she defends herself, yet she smiles and struggles unconvincingly against the mischievous little god. William-Adolphe Bouguereau, the most popular painter of the Paris exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s, here repeated in smaller form the composition he had made for the Salon of 1880, giving a private collector the same polished, porcelain-finished academic ideal. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.