Cupid Wounding Psyche

Cupid Wounding Psyche illustrates the moment from Apuleius's tale when the god of love accidentally pricks himself with his own arrow, falling in love with the mortal he was sent to destroy. Boucher painted this in 1741, when he was consolidating his position as the dominant decorative painter in France. The Cupid and Psyche narrative — with its themes of beauty, desire, and divine jealousy — provided Rococo painters with perfect material for sensuous, emotionally engaging compositions.

Warm flesh tones and cool blue drapery create the chromatic contrast Boucher favored in mythological nudes. The two figures are interlocked in a sinuous curve that emphasizes both the intimacy and the danger of the moment.