Cupid and Psyche - Palace Green Murals - Psyche Receiving the Casket from Proserpine
Artist: Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane
Date: 1872-1881
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Description
The more sculpturally classical drapery of the figures in the opening image accords with the sterner mood of the story’s beginning. Jealous of Psyche's beauty, the goddess Venus sends Cupid to destroy her; instead, he falls in love with the sleeping princess:
As Love cast down his eyes with a half smile, Godlike and cruel, that faded in a while, And long he stood above her hidden eyes With red lips parted in a god’s surprise.
After performing a series of harrowing tasks, Psyche is finally reunited with Cupid and, forgiven by Venus, is allowed to remain with him as an immortal.
