More about Love and the Maiden

  • All
  • Info
  • Shop

Contributor

Hey girl, I know my Mamma be trippin’ cause you my boo and all but I talked to Jupiter and he goin’ to make you a God-for real. 

Love and the Maiden by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope is a Pre-Raphaelite representation of the story of Cupid and Psyche. The painting specifically depicts Cupid waking Psyche from a spell released from a box from the underworld that she was forced to recover for his Mother, Venus. Wow, the things ladies did to make nice with their Mother-in-Laws back in the day.

Stanhope was influenced by notable Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rosetti, which may explain the random ladies dancing in the background. Those ladies also hearken back to Primavera by Botticelli, which makes sense, given the late Pre-Raphaelite fascination with Renaissance Italy. But it makes one wonder, was dancing in the woods a thing back then?  They certainly painted it a lot. Stanhope was also influenced by the Aesthetic Movement which emphasized the importance of art for arts sake (sans the politics and stuff). I guess you could use that kind of rationale to justify painting a winged dude with a curly bowl cut in an off-the-shoulder micro-mini number

Featured Content

Here is what Wikipedia says about Love and the Maiden

Love and the Maiden is an oil painting (previously mistaken for tempera) on canvas by English Pre-Raphaelite artist John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (executed in 1877) that is currently housed at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Check out the full Wikipedia article about Love and the Maiden