Artwork Page for Cupid and Psyche

Details / Information for Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche

1817
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Jacques-Louis David

(French, 1748–1825)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 221 x 282 x 10 cm (87 x 111 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 184.2 x 241.6 cm (72 1/2 x 95 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1962.37
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Jacques-Louis David included two butterflies in this painting: one above the slumbering Psyche and the other on the base of the couple's bed frame.

Description

David used the story of Cupid and Psyche to explore the conflict between idealized love and physical reality. Cupid, lover of the beautiful mortal Psyche, visited her nightly on the condition that she not know his identity. Cupid was usually depicted as an ideal adolescent, but here David presents him as an ungainly teenager smirking at his sexual conquest. David took inspiration from a number of ancient texts, including an obscure, recently published Greek poem by Moschus that describes Cupid as a mean-spirited brat with flashing eyes and curly hair.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts a sleeping nude woman and a winged nude man next to each other in bed. Behind them is an open window, showing a landscape with mountains and trees. The two people have their arms draped across each other. The man has a bow next to him and he has a smirk on his face.

Cupid and Psyche

1817

Jacques-Louis David

(French, 1748–1825)
France, 19th century

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