Paintings

On other occasions, we have published works that speak of Psyche and Cupid. Today we bring you this series of paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau that represent different moments of the myth. Psyche was the youngest daughter of the King of Anatolia; her great beauty was so famous throughout the kingdom that men adored her as a new Aphrodite, forgetting the altars of the true goddess. This involuntary cult sparked the wrath of the deity of love, who could not allow a mortal to compete with her radiance.

A young family enjoys a tender moment in a lush clearing. Venus, the goddess of love, holds the bow of Cupid, her son, while his father Mercury, the god of wisdom and messenger of the gods, teaches him to read. Mercury looks at his little one with an almost human affection, but Venus breaks the fourth wall: she gazes at us dreamily and smiles, inviting us to be accomplices in this divine domestic scene. Unusually, in this depiction, Venus is shown with wings, a detail that has puzzled and fascinated historians for centuries.

The sea and the foam: two essential elements upon which artistic representations linked to the birth of Aphrodite are based. Throughout the centuries, artists have offered a very free interpretation of the details of the myth, but always returning to that aquatic origin. From this arises the epithet "Anadyomene," which literally means "rising from the breast of the waters." However, it is curious to note that representations staging the violent emergence or the actual movement of the goddess rising are truly rare. Most painters prefer the moment of calm after the storm.

Hecate, the Greek goddess of three faces, is a truly special figure who defies the logical and structured order of the ancient cosmos. Unlike the Olympian gods who have clearly defined domains, she moves in the shadows of transitions. Specifically, she does not fit into the Greek order at all because she is the very embodiment of change. The lunar phases, the paths that cross, the doors and thresholds represent this principle of constant mutation that the goddess unwaveringly enforces in her own way.