17C Naked Little Spring Puttie in a Formal Garden

Attributed to Jan Breughel II (1601-1678) Formal Spring Garden with a Fountain & a few Flower Pickers.

Putti, in the ancient classical world, were winged male infants believed to actually influence human lives. 

Early image of putti. The Hestia Tapestry "Hestia full of Blessings" is a 6C work of art depicting 6 putti attending the goddess Hestia. Scan from 1945 book Documents of Dying Paganism. Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington D.C.

In Renaissance art, the activities & form of the little putto was derived from a variety of myths including the Greek Eros or Roman Amor/Cupid, the god of love & companion of Aphrodite or Venus. Putti seem to have mostly disappeared during the Middle Ages & appeared again during the 1400s.  Putti began to play in works showing figures from classical mythology, popular in the same period. Most Renaissance putti are essentially decorative little adorable boys in both religious & secular works. There are 2 popular forms of the putto as the main subject of a work of art in 16C Italian Renaissance art: the sleeping putto & the standing putto with an animal or other object demanding a bit of attention.

To learn more, you might go to Charles Dempsey's Inventing the Renaissance Putto. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London, 2001.