#psyche sleeping

Kinuko Y. Craft

12.5" x 15" inches

Original Oil on Board

Angry Venus has sent her son Cupid, who is invisible to mortals, to prick Psyche with an arrow and cause her to fall in love with an ugly beast. Instead, he pricks himself by accident when Psyche awakens unexpectedly and startles him. This was a difficult scene to depict because of Cupid's invisibility, which is why he is shown as a ghostly figure formed by the branches of a tree and stars.

The myth of Cupid and Psyche (also known as The Tale of Amour and Psyche and The Tale of Eros and Psyche) first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century AD. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.