Current Location: In storage
Titles
Cupid and Psyche
Maker(s)
Printmaker:
Say, William
Painter:
Reynolds, Joshua
(After)
Entities
Categories
Description
After the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1787-9, exh. R.A. 1789, no. 179; Mannings, 2054; Courtauld Gallery, London). From the story of Cupid and Psyche as originally told by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass), 2nd Century AD. Psyche holds up an oil lamp in her right hand as she kneels on a bed beside the sleeping Cupid, his bow tucked under his right side. Patterned curtains around the bed. The crescent moon viewed through a window to the right.
Legal notes
Bequeathed by Charles Brinsley Marlay, 1912
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1912)
by
Marlay, Charles Brinsley
Dating
18th Century#
Production date:
1816-02-12
AD 1816
Note
Mezzotint. Published state in open letters. Trimmed within the platemark. Engraved with artists' names and publication details in open roman letters: 'Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.'; 'London Publish'd Feb.y 12. 1816. by Thomas [Macdo]nald, 39 Fleet Street.'; 'Engraved by W. Say. Engraver to HRH the Duke of Glouvester &c'. Inscribed on the verso: 'CBM [Charles Brinsley Marlay]'; 'Cupid & Psyche / (Perhaps Miss Greville & her brother)'. The observation originates with Graves & Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., 1899, p. 1142, but actually relates to a different composition by the artist, Miss Frances Greville and her brother, as Cupid and Psyche (1760-1; private collection). See, Mannings, 2054 and 443.
School or Style
British
Techniques used in production
Mezzotint
Identification numbers
Accession number: P.15074-R
Primary reference Number: 240104
Hamilton: II/II (p.145)
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Thursday 9 January 2020
Updated: Wednesday 11 January 2023
Last processed: Thursday 7 December 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
