Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Eros.
The gallery
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss
Antonio Canova, 1787–1793
A Neoclassical marble group by Antonio Canova capturing the moment from Apuleius's tale when Cupid revives the lifeless Psyche with a kiss, his wings rising above their embrace. The tender interlocking of the two figures made it one of the most celebrated sculptures of its age. It is now in the Louvre in Paris.
The Farnese Eros
Roman copy after a Greek original, 2nd century AD
A Roman marble copy of the second century AD after a lost Greek original of the fourth century BC attributed to Praxiteles. It presents the love god not as a mischievous child but as a graceful, contemplative youth. Part of the Farnese collection, it is now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Amor Vincit Omnia
Caravaggio, 1601–1602
An oil painting of a grinning adolescent Cupid trampling the emblems of music, science, warfare and statecraft, illustrating Virgil's line 'love conquers all.' Caravaggio's provocative realism made the picture famous in his own lifetime. It hangs in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
In music & on stage
Psyché
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Lully's tragédie lyrique stages Cupid's secret love for Psyche — Eros as the unseen bridegroom whose identity must not be seen by lamp-light.
Psyche
Matthew Locke
Locke's English semi-opera reworks Molière's Psyché for the Restoration stage — Cupid and Psyche sung between spoken scenes at Dorset Garden.
Psyché
Pierre Gardel
Gardel's Paris Opéra ballet-pantomime made Cupid and Psyche a Revolutionary-era sensation — Eros as dance drama for the Académie Royale.
In play
Cupid and Psyche
Apuleius
The inset tale of The Golden Ass is Eros' great romance — the love god who hides his face, and the mortal who lights the lamp.
The Golden Ass
Apuleius
Apuleius' Metamorphoses frames the Cupid and Psyche story inside a comic novel — Eros' marriage embedded in the only Latin novel to survive complete.
Cupid
Rome's Cupid is Eros with a Latin name — the winged archer of Valentine cards still carrying the Greek love-god's quiver.
Erotic
English erotic and French érotique descend from Eros — the god's name turned into the ordinary word for desire.