Cupid and Psyche
Medium
watercolor and gouache over black chalk and graphite on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 38.7 × 29.4 cm (15 1/4 × 11 9/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
William B. O'Neal Fund
Accession Number
2022.99.1
Art Historical Context
In the National Gallery of Art's collection, *Cupid and Psyche* (1800) by Italian artist Santino Tagliafichi the timeless myth of love's trials through a delicate preparatory drawing. Tagliafichi, a neoclassical sculptor and draftsman in Rome during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, drew inspiration from classical antiquity, much like his contemporaries Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. The subject—drawn from Apuleius's tale—depicts the divine lovers amid their fateful embrace, embodying Neoclassicism's reverence for mythological narratives, heroic ideals, and emotional depth at the...