# Cupid and Psyche

**Jacques-Louis David** (French, 1748–1825)  
1817  
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.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962.37. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.37).

## 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.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Jacques-Louis David painted this in 1817, aged 69. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Jacques-Louis David](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/jacques-louis-david)

French, 1748–1825; born in Paris; died in Brussels

David was the leading painter of French Neoclassicism. After winning the Prix de Rome he studied antiquity in Italy, and in the 1780s produced severe, moralising history paintings such as The Oath of the Horatii and The Death of Socrates. During the Revolution he was a deputy who voted for the king’s execution and painted The Death of Marat; he later became first painter to Napoleon. After the Bourbon restoration he lived in exile in Brussels, where he died.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France, 19th century
- The artist was 69
- Real size: about 73 × 95 in (184 × 242 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/652.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/652/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/cupid-and-psyche-cma-138464).