Episode from the Myth of Cupid and Psyche: Psyche Pursued by Cupid

17 nov

Andrea Appiani · 1789
Fresco - Rotonda della Villa Reale
Monza, Italy - Viale Brianza
LDA · III · MMXXV

**Source**
Book · Il Neoclassicisimo nella Pittura Italiana di Angela Ottino Della Chiesa · Fratelli Fabbri Editori · 1967 · p. 45

Andrea Appiani depicts Psyche fleeing in sorrow while Cupid follows, suspended between hesitation and desire. Psyche bends toward the overturned urn, a traditional symbol of emotional rupture and the loss of divine favor. Cupid moves toward her but has not yet reached her - a visual device that preserves the myth’s core tension: love as a force that saves and wounds. The landscape creates a boundary between mortal and divine realms - Psyche on the ground, Cupid poised above, marking the distance between human emotion and supernatural influence. Neoclassical artists returned to this story often because it framed love as destiny, discipline, and transformation - themes that later migrated into decorative allegory in Italian fresco cycles and domestic ornament.

Reposting welcome; please credit Libreria d’Arte - Studio Soli.