3-097-570 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The love of Cupid and Psyche, 1630. Alternative title: Nymphs at the Fountain of Love. The scene unfolds in a garden. To the right, a fountain is decorated with a statue of Cupid riding a dolphin. In the centre are female figures drying and dressing after their bath. Cherub offer them a basket of fruit and wine, and another carries a tray with a peacock, while a second peacock spreads its tail beside the fountain. Other cherubs flutter in the air, drawing back a curtain, holding a cornucopia, or scattering flowers from above. This composition was known in various catalogues as Diana's Bath or Goddesses and Nymphs After Bathing. But given the many references to love, it is considered more likely that Jordaens depicts the happy ending of the legend of Cupid and Psyche, recounted by the Roman author Apuleius in his novel "Metamorphoses", or The Golden Ass. The painting would thus show the moment when Psyche - the personification of the soul in classical mythology - is preparing herself, in the company of several goddesses and nymphs, for her wedding to the god of Love. Psyche has been identified as the young woman reaching out to the winged youth, who has been identified as Cupid. The inclusion of the peacocks would also support the presence of Juno, goddess of marriage.