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Old 01-17-2017, 01:14 PM   #845
RonTheLogician
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Cool Introduction to Psyche, famed consort of Eros - part 2


[continued from last post]

That's not to say it ever was uncommon to show Eros/Cupid as an infant. But it seems that modern fine artists have instead favored portraying him as a post-infancy pre-pubescent, as in the four examples which follow.

First are a pair of curious images of Psyche and Eros, in which Psyche appears without her traditional characteristic butterfly wings.

Here is Joseph Berger's Psyche Et Cupidon, circa 1840 (+-20 years):


and then here is Pompeo Girolamo Baton's 1756 Marriage of Cupid and Psyche:


I know that some people might be wondering what a woman Psyche's age is doing banging a younger guy like Eros, so I'll point out that it's okay since we see they first got married! ;-P

For those who are not placated by this, I'll now offer a pair of paintings in which Eros appears with a Psyche whom no one would call age-inappropriate! ;-P

First up is the work of a woman painter from the pre-feminist ages, Angelika Kauffmann, whose 1795 Bildnis der Geschwister Plymouth als Amor und Psyche appears directly below:


I hope it won't disturb too many people when I offer an English translation of the title: Painting of the Plymouth siblings as Amor [i.e. Eros] and Psyche. But Dani, perhaps you might think twice about showing this picture to your brother, lest he wonder if you are making a funny suggestion! ;-P

So, for the sake of those who think "family togetherness" can sometimes be too much of a good thing, I will offer a final image where it is not an issue. Below is another work by William Adolphe Bouguereau, his 1889 L'Amour et Psyche, Enfants, in English Amour [i.e. Eros] and Psyche, children:


If you want to look at even more historical paintings and statues of Psyche and Eros, consult the large index on the page here.

And don't miss Psyche's career as a 20th century advertising spokesperson in the illustrated essay titled Oddball Ad Campaigns of the 1940s: White Rock's Topless Tinkerbell here.

This item reminds us that Tinkerbell, today the mascot for Disney, is basically a great grand-daughter of Psyche! But don't be shocked that Disney would so conspicuously use a symbol intimately tied to a demi-goddess of erotic love! That's because Tinkerbell herself originates as a character in Peter Pan - which the naive might see as a simple childhood tale, but which can easily be read as erotically charged, with only a bit of detective work. I don't have time to do that now, so in the following post (in which the CMS will let me embed additional images), I will offer a brief tease for now.

[continued in next post]

Last edited by RonTheLogician; 01-23-2017 at 11:26 AM. Reason: move text paragraph from previous post to this one
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