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Mythology in Marble

Chapter 124: ART.
By Louie M. Bell
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About This Book

A concise guide that pairs brief retellings of classical myths with descriptive analyses of the marble sculptures inspired by them, offering readers accessible explanations of how narrative themes inform pose, expression, and iconography. Each entry includes notes on artistic features and provenance alongside poetic quotations and illustrations to reinforce popular interpretations. Practical tools such as a table of Greek and Roman deity equivalents and a suggested reading list are appended to aid further study. The overall aim is to equip museumgoers and general readers with the background needed to appreciate mythological sculpture without requiring specialized art-historical training.

Cupid and Psyche.

“Pallas shall sit enthroned in wisdom’s station
Cupid and Psyche be forever wed,
And still the primal loveliest creation
Yield new delight from ancient beauty bred.”
—E. C. Stedman.

STORY.
A FAIRY TALE.

“No dulcet sounds escaped her lyre
E’en when the summer nights were nigh;
Till Cupid came with glance of fire
And taught her all the mystery.”
—Goethe.

Psyche was the youngest of three daughters of a king and by her beauty incurred the jealousy and envy of Venus, who commanded her son, Cupid, to slay her. Cupid prepared to obey the command, but became so stricken with Psyche’s beauty that he fell in love with her and sent a Zephyr to convey her to a splendid palace where he became her husband. He visited her, however, only when the shades of night fell and entreated her to make no attempt to discover his name or see his face, warning her that if she did he would be forced to leave her, never to return.

“Dear, I am with thee only while I keep
My visage hidden: and if thou once shouldst see
My face, I must forsake thee: the high gods
Link Love with Faith, and he withdraws himself
From the full gaze of Knowledge.”
—Lewis Morris.

Psyche promised to respect his wishes and when the first faint streak of dawn appeared he bade her farewell to return at night.

“Now on broad pinions from the realms above
Descending, Cupid seeks the Cyprian grove;
To his wide arms enamoured Psyche springs
And clasps her lover with aurelian wings.
A purple sash across his shoulder bends
And fringed with gold his quivered shaft suspends.”
—Darwin.

While the novelty of the situation lasted Psyche was happy, but soon her sisters came and filled her bosom with dark suspicions.

“They told her that he to whose vows she had listened
Through night’s fleeting hours was a spirit unblest;
Unholy the eyes that beside her had glistened
And evil the lips she in darkness had pressed.
When next in thy chamber the bridegroom reclineth
Bring near him thy lamp when in slumber he lies,
And when the light o’er his dark features shineth
Thou’ll see what a demon has won all thy sighs.”
—Moore.

Psyche’s curiosity and suspicions overcame her discretion and accordingly when Cupid was asleep she took a lamp and, bending over him, beheld not a hideous monster, but the most beautiful of the gods. In the excitement of joy and fear, a drop of hot oil fell from the lamp upon his shoulder. He opened his eyes and fixed them full upon her, then spreading his white wings, flew away only stopping long enough to say:

“Farewell—what a dream thy suspicion hath broken!
Thus ever affection’s fond vision is crost.
Dissolved are her spells when a doubt is but spoken,
And love once disturbed forever is lost.”
—Moore.

Psyche, disconsolate, wandered over the earth seeking her lover, and at length came to the palace of Venus. Venus retained her as a slave and imposed upon her the hardest and most humiliating labors. She would have perished but that Cupid, who still loved her in secret, invisibly comforted her. One day he found her asleep by the roadside with the marks of grief upon her lovely face. He softly kissed her and said:

“Dear, unclose thine eyes,
Thou mayst look on me now, I go no more,
But am thine own forever.”
—Lewis Morris.

He bore her away to Mt. Olympus where their union was blessed by the gods.

“So now in steadfast love and happy state,
They hold for aye their mansion in the sky,
And send down heavenly peace on those who mate,
In virgin love, to find their joy thereby.”
—Robert Bridges.

INTERPRETATION.

Cupid is an emblem of the heart. The Greek word for butterfly is Psyche and the same word means soul.

“The butterfly the ancient Grecians made
The soul’s fair emblem.”
—Coleridge.

The purpose of the story is to illustrate the three stages in the existence of a soul—its pre-existence in a blessed state, its existence on earth, its trials and anguish, and its future state of happy immortality.

ART.

One of the most beautiful of the many representations of this fascinating story is Canova’s statue in the Louvre of Cupid awakening Psyche. We cannot fail to have an exalted conception of true beauty after gazing upon it. It has been said that no kiss in modern art is so ideal as the one here enjoyed. The youthful figures show grace of form combined with an exalted spirituality. Only a refined nature could have conceived the subject so purely.