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Cupid and Psyche
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineCupid and Psyche, 1817. Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825). Oil on canvas; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1962.37
