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Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)

Jacques-Louis David

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.

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Year in Review - 1962

Neo-classicism: Style and Motif. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Neo-classicism: Style and Motif

Fifteenth Anniversary Exhibition. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (November 4, 1965-January 2, 1966).

Fifteenth Anniversary Exhibition

The Age of Neoclassicism. Arts Council of Great Britain (organizer) (September 7-November 19, 1972).

The Age of Neoclassicism

Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (February 1-April 24, 2005); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (organizer) (June 5-September 5, 2005).

Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile

CMA @ Oberlin (first rotation). Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 31-April 3, 2006).

CMA @ Oberlin (first rotation)

Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007).

Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art

Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).

Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art

City Hall, Ghent, Belgium (1817). (According to Dowd 1956).

Au profit des hospices de Sainte-Gudule et des Ursulines. Musée Royal de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium (1817). (See Wildenstein and Wildenstein 1973).

Au profit des Grecs. Galerie Lebrun, Paris, France (1826). (According to David, exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, France (1948).

Gros, ses amis, ses élèves. Petit Palais, Paris, France (1936).

David: Exposition en l'honneur du deuxième centenaire de sa naissance. Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, France (June-September, 1948).

An oil painting of a nude man and a nude woman lying 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, with the man looking at us with a smirk and the woman sleeping.

Giovanni Battista Comte de Sommariva [1760-1826], his sale February 18-23, 1839, sold to Dubois.

(Dubois, Paris, France, February 18-23, 1839, lot 1)

James Alexandre Comte de Pourtalès [1776-1855], Paris. France.

Pourtalès-Gorgier sale, Paris, France, March 27, 1865 (lot 242), ff 1,450 sold to Madame de Furtado, 1880.

Madame de Furtado [1821-1896], Paris, France

M. Eisenschitz ? (See distinguishing marks label)

Prince Murat by 1913. Princesse Murat. Murat sale, Palais Galliéra, Paris, France, March 2, 1961 (lot 140), ff 245,000.

(Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Psyche means soul ancient Greek&mdash;and is also the name of Cupid's human lover. It is also a rarely used ancient Greek word for butterfly. Butterflies are often included in pictures of Cupid and Psyche, such as this winged creature, which is a male cabbage butterfly.

Psyche

The artist Jacques-Louis David was French, but the model for Cupid was American. James Gallatin was acting as the personal secretary of his father, diplomat Albert Gallatin. The elder Gallatin was instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

The Model

David creatively incorporated his signature into this painting. Look closely at the whorls on the bed&mdash;the artist's signature looks like it was carved into the furniture!

David's Signature

The Story of Cupid and Psyche

Meet the Model

The Butterflies

Gallery Hangouts: Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche

Did you know that Cupid, the god of love, once fell in love himself? Join master teacher Arielle Levine and learn the story behind Jacques-Louis David's Cupid and Psyche.