Licensed reproduction of Psyche, 1903, by John William Waterhouse. The dimensions of the print are 8" by 10", but the actual image area is 6.25" by 10". The print ships flat and is ready for framing.
Psyche represents the human spirit or soul, and in mythology she was a princess so beautiful that people adored her as much or more than Venus, the goddess of Love and Beauty. To put an end to this sacrilege, Venus sent her son, Cupid, to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature he could find, but when Cupid saw her, he fell in love with her and forgot his mother's instructions.
Cupid asked Zephyr, the west wind, to bring her to his magical cottage in his forest. He took her as his lover, though Cupid forbade Psyche to ever look at him.
She begged him to let her sisters visit. Over time, against his wisdom, he relented, and the sisters convineced Psyche that her true love must be a formidable monster. The one that the oracle had predicted would be her husband.
Psyche agreed to hold up a lantern once her lover had fallen asleep in their bed and she gasped to see that her lover was no other than the god of love himself. Startled, the lamp dripped hot oil onto his shoulder and he awoke and fled because she had betrayed her promise to him. He was terrified of the wrath of his mother, Venus.
Psyche roamed the earth in search of her lover, facing obstacles thrown in her way by Venus to prove that she was unworthy of her son. One of these tasks involved a golden box of beauty cream that she commanded Psyche take to Hades' wife in the Underworld. Venus warned her that she must not open the box, knowing that Psyche would not be able to resist. When Psyche did open it, she fell into a deep sleep of death. Cupid took her to Olympus to be judged by Zeus, who granted her immortality and gave her a pair of wings. That is why Psyche is often depicted as a butterfly goddess. Jupiter agreed that the lovers could be united for eternity.
In Greek mythology, Venus is represented by Aphrodite, Cupid by Eros and Jupiter by Zeus.
The painting show Pysche after she has first arrived at Cupid's magical cottage. (Think Beauty and the Beast.) She is pushing open the door that leads to the garden.
Made in the U.S.A.