Lovers in Art

Cupid and Psyche 

1798
François Gérard (1770 - 1837)
Oil on Canvas, 186 x 132 cm
The Louvre, Paris
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The second generation of the Neoclassical style cultivated an aestheticism of beautiful physique that seemed to be trying to discover the limits of what was feasible. The new intention was already evident in Gérard's Cupid and Psyche.

 

 

• The intention was to take physical beauty, line, composition, colour and delicacy of the handling of flesh to perfection.

• Cupid's hint at an embrace is theatrical.

• Butterfly signifying spring.

• Wedding dress playful touch, retains a mystery: covering up anything that erotic and sensual stimulation could have made banal.