Cupid and Psyche

Cupid 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 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.