Jacques
Louis David
(French, 1748 - 1825)
Cupid
and Psyche (Primary title), 1817
L'Amour
et Psyché (Foreign title)
Unframed: 184.2 cm x 241.6 cm
Oil on canvas
Inscriptions:
signed at right: L. DAVID 1817./ BRUXELLES
Context:
Venus, her jealousy inflamed by Psyche's beauty, sent Cupid to
make Psyche fall in love with the most despicable man she might
happen to meet. But Cupid himself fell in love with Psyche and
brought her to his palace, where he made love to her every night.
The painting shows Cupid leaving at dawn so that the sleeping
Psyche could never know his identity. This picture was painted
while the artist was in exile in Brussels. The work's eroticism
is a departure from David's earlier sober and moralizing pictures.
The
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
No. 1962.37
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
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