The People Rendering Divine Honors to Psyche

Prints and Drawings

1530/40

Master of the Die (Italian, active c. 1530-1560)
after Michiel Coxcie I (Flemish, 1499-1592)
in turn, inspired by Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520)

This series by the Renaissance engraver known as the Master of the Die tells the story of the romance between Cupid, the ancient god of love, and his mortal beloved, Psyche. Cupid’s mother, Venus, resented Psyche’s rare beauty because she distracted the goddess’s followers. When Venus dispatches Cupid to exact her revenge, he falls in love with Psyche himself. Secretly meeting Psyche only at night, he attempts to keep his identity secret but is ultimately discovered. Psyche then embarks on a series of quests engineered by the still-vindictive Venus to atone for her curiosity.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Master of the Die
Title: The People Rendering Divine Honors to Psyche
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1530–1540
Medium: Engraving in warm brown ink on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Plate: 20 × 23.5 cm (7 7/8 × 9 5/16 in.); Sheet: 27 × 37 cm (10 11/16 × 14 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Stanley Field, Everett D. Graff, and John H. Wrenn Memorial Endowments
Reference Number: 2001.493.2
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/158169/manifest.json

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