Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alphonse-legros-341" aria-label="More by Alphonse Legros" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Alphonse Legros</a>
Cupid and Psyche
Bequeathed by Sir Charles Holroyd 1918
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
arm / arms raised
arrow
bow
classical myths: gods and heroes
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
Eros / Cupid
female
flower
furnishings
hill
kneeling
landscape
looking / watching
love
man
nudes
objects
people
pillow
plants and flowers
Psyche
reclining
religion and belief
sleeping
weapons
woman
wooded
<p>The tale of Cupid and Psyche was written by the Roman poet Lucius Apuleius. Psyche was given a box, supposedly containing beauty for the goddess Venus. She was told not to open it, but could not resist looking inside, causing her to fall into a deep sleep. Legros shows the moment when her lover, Cupid, discovers her. He is about to wake her with a touch of his arrow. Legros was born in France but fellow artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler encouraged him to move to London, where he settled in 1863. The composition of the reclining female figure shows the influence of Italian artists such as Giorgione and Titian, as well as Rembrandt.</p><p><em>Gallery label, April 2018</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
Cupid and Psyche
support: 1168 × 1414 mm
frame: 1475 × 1747 × 115 mm
Bequeathed by Sir Charles Holroyd 1918
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<p>The tale of Cupid and Psyche was written by the Roman poet Lucius Apuleius. Psyche was given a box, supposedly containing beauty for the goddess Venus. She was told not to open it, but could not resist looking inside, causing her to fall into a deep sleep. Legros shows the moment when her lover, Cupid, discovers her. He is about to wake her with a touch of his arrow. Legros was born in France but fellow artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler encouraged him to move to London, where he settled in 1863. The composition of the reclining female figure shows the influence of Italian artists such as Giorgione and Titian, as well as Rembrandt.</p>
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2018-04-05T00:00:00
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actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults arm / arms raised arrow bow classical myths: gods and heroes emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas Eros / Cupid female flower furnishings hill kneeling landscape looking / watching love man nudes objects people pillow plants and flowers Psyche reclining religion and belief sleeping weapons woman wooded