Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
Cupid and Psyche
1817
Jacques-Louis David's 'Cupid and Psyche' (1817) depicts the young god of love leaving the sleeping Psyche's bed at dawn, a moment borrowed from Apuleius. Painted in Brussels during David's post-Napoleonic exile, the chilly, almost satirical Neoclassical treatment — Cupid smirking conspiratorially at the viewer — marked a deliberate break with earlier idealisations of the subject. Oil on canvas, Cleveland Museum of Art.
Exhibition Venue
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