Putti in a Circle Dance c. 1700

This is Gabriel Grupello’s small ivory relief sculpture, “Putti in a Circle Dance." Grupello worked during the Baroque period, a time characterized by ornate details and dramatic expression. At first glance, the sculpture depicts innocence and joy, with chubby cherubs dancing and playing music. Yet, in the context of 17th-century European society, we must consider that the ivory itself came at a cost, extracted from elephants in colonized lands, subtly reminding us of the exploitative practices that underpinned European wealth and artistic production. Furthermore, these figures are not simply children, they are putti; a representation of innocence as cherubic, white, and male. Consider the complex dance between beauty and exploitation, joy and privilege, and how these dynamics are embedded even in seemingly innocent depictions of play. How might these historical contexts affect our contemporary experience of this artwork?