Cupid and Psyche

Auguste Rodin French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800

In this variation on the theme of lost love, Rodin depicts the moment that the god Cupid abandons the mortal Psyche at the command of the jealous goddess Venus. Outstretched across a block of unfinished marble, Psyche desperately clings to the god as he lowers his face toward her and ascends with beating wings. The projecting marble strut supporting Cupid’s arm binds him to the block and locks the lovers in an eternal parting embrace. In 1893 Cupid and Psyche and Orpheus and Eurydice became Rodin’s first carved works to enter an American collection.

Cupid and Psyche, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French

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