Cupids Disarmed by the Nymphs of Diana

Louis XIV bought this canvas and its three companions in 1684 or 1685 from Paolo Francesco Falconieri, a collector in Florence, and they went to Versailles. By 1695 they hung in the Grand Cabinet of Monseigneur, the rooms of the king's son and heir, known at court simply as Monseigneur and a keen collector of pictures himself. Later they moved to the king's picture cabinet and then to the Trianon, and the set has been on show in Paris since the museum opened in 1793.

In this scene the story of Venus turns into a victory for Diana, the goddess of chastity. In a wood her nymphs slip the bows and arrows away from the sleeping cupids, while above them one cupid makes off through the air.