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Cupid And Psyche : An Unsettling And Awkward Version Of The Myth

Decent Essays

Cupid and Psyche has been evaluated as being an unnerving and awkward version of the myth. David’s painting depicts a vulgar and adolescent Cupid as he is sneaking away just before sunrise. Traditionally, the god of love would be presented as an idealized and noble youth; however, in this painting David chose to show a ruddy juvenile who sneers at the observer as if to display his conquest. Cupid lacks the elegance and beautiful youthfulness, usually attributed to the gods in art; in fact, David was known for the virtuous and perfected male form that dominates most of his previous works. The male form demonstrated by Cupid “was seen to be completely at odds with the standards David and his circle had long employed for depicting young male gods.” (Thompson).
What might have stunned the viewers the most about David’s painting was not the nontraditional image of Cupid, but the fact that David painted him. “In a letter to David, Gros remarked that Cupid resembled too closely a faun rather than a deity. Fauns, along with satyrs and centaurs, were considered to be the lowest subject between deity and beast” (Thompson). Many spectators have made similar criticisms of Cupid’s portrayal as being less than godly. David showed Cupid as dark and having a awkward adolescent physique with an imbalanced skin tone, rather than developing a “musculature, porcelain skin and Aryan features.” Nineteenth-century art critic Miel declared, “This Amor is not at all a god, he is not even a

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