Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000243Cupid and Psyche
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
Signed in yellow in arm of the couch: L. David 1817 Bruxelles
Provenance
1839: Giovanni Battista Comte de Sommariva [1760-1826], his sale February 18-23, 1839, sold to Dubois. 1839: (Dubois, Paris, France, February 18-23, 1839, lot 1) James Alexandre Comte de Pourtalès [1776-1855], Paris. France. 1880: Pourtalès-Gorgier sale, Paris, France, March 27, 1865 (lot 242), ff 1,450 sold to Madame de Furtado, 1880. 1880-?: Madame de Furtado [1821-1896], Paris, France M. Eisenschitz ? (See distinguishing marks label) Prince Murat by 1913. Princesse Murat. Murat sale, Palais Galliéra, Paris, France, March 2, 1961 (lot 140), ff 245,000. 1962: (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1962: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962). Neo-classicism: Style and Motif. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 23-October 31, 1964). Fifteenth Anniversary Exhibition. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (November 4, 1965-January 2, 1966). The Age of Neoclassicism. Arts Council of Great Britain (organizer) (September 7-November 19, 1972). Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (February 1-April 24, 2005); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (organizer) (June 5-September 5, 2005). CMA @ Oberlin (first rotation). Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 31-April 3, 2006). Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007). Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007). Jacques-Louis David. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (organizer) (October 15, 2025-January 26, 2026) https://www.louvre.fr/en/exhibitions-and-events/exhibitions/jacques-louis-david.
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
- Date
- 1817
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1962.37
More by Jacques-Louis David in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000243
Powered by Art Trackers