Plate with Psyche Carried into the Mountains

Description This plate depicts a scene from the story of Cupid and Psyche by the Roman writer Lucius Apulius (ca. 123-ca 170). Psyche, a king’s daughter, is so beautiful that all who see her sense something divine in her features and accord her the honors due the goddess Venus. When Venus hears of this she is outraged and accuses Psyche of impiety. She instructs her son Cupid, god of love, to make Psyche fall in love with someone who will bring her sorrow. An oracle tells Psyche’s father that she must be married to a monster who lives on a mountain. Psyche’s parents have her carried up the mountain for this terrible wedding.

Provenance Octavius E. Coope [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, London, May 3, 1910, lot 46; George Robinson Harding, London, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1912, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1912