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Cupid and Psyche

Jacques-Louis David1813

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

This drawing belongs to a group of preparatory studies for Jacques-Louis David's painting <em>Cupid and Psyche, </em>also in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection. Here, David integrated looser charcoal sketches into a finished work in which his composition was fully established. Only minor details, such as Cupid's facial expression, were ultimately changed. In layers of diluted gray wash and outlines of black ink, David evoked the precise appearance of his final canvas using monochromatic media.

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  • Title: Cupid and Psyche
  • Creator: Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
  • Date Created: 1813
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 16.7 x 22.4 cm (6 9/16 x 8 13/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Given by the artist to Nicholas Phillippe Auguste, Compte de Forbin [1777-1841], Paris, Private collection, Paris, (sale, Hotel Drouot, November 7, 1973, no. 107), (Galerie Arnoldi-Livie, Munich), (Heim Gallery, London), (Artemis Group (David Carritt), London), (Eugene V. Thaw, New York), Ed Hill, El Paso, Texas, Elizabeth Eddy, Ohio, (Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York), Paul Weiss, New York, (Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.91
  • Medium: gray wash and pen and black ink with white paint and traces of black chalk
  • Inscriptions: signed and dated, lower right: L. David 1813.
  • Fun Fact: Scholars believe that this drawing was given by Jacques-Louis David to his pupil, the Comte de Forbin, to thank him for his continual devotion.
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: France, 19th century
  • Credit Line: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
  • Collection: DR - French
  • Accession Number: 2002.91
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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