Psyche Carried Off by the Zephyrs

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Artist: Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758–1823)
Medium: Black and white chalk with stumping over graphite on faded blue wove paper, black chalk framing lines
Size: 11 5/8 x 9 5/16 in. (29.5 x 23.7 cm) (image); 17 1/2 x 12 in. (44.5 x 30.5 cm) (sheet)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche was left by her family on a mountaintop to marry a monstrous groom. But the kindly west winds, the Zephyrs, lifted her up and transported her to Cupid’s palace.

Prud’hon’s soft sfumato modeling, lyrical grace, and sensual handling earned him the nickname “the French Correggio, ” because of that Italian Renaissance master’s profound influence. Just before beginning this composition, Prud’hon had restored two of Correggio’s mythological paintings, Leda and the Swan and a copy of Jupiter and Io. Both of those unabashedly erotic pictures had been mutilated in the previous century by the son of Philippe, duc d’Orléans, in an insane fit of religious rage.

Prud’hon’s intimate study of Correggio is evident in Psyche, one of his most titillating works. Yet Prud’hon created something wholly original—a calculated display of a beautiful (naked) woman in the guise of an ancient story.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.