Story of Psyche

Jacopo del Sellaio (Italian (Florentine), about 1441–1493)

about 1490

Medium/TechniqueTempera and oil on panel (cassone panel)

Dimensions42.1 x 151.8 cm (16 9/16 x 59 3/4 in.)

Credit LinePicture Fund

Accession number12.1049

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Venus was jealous of the maiden Psyche and sent Cupid, her son, to make Psyche fall in love with an insignificant man. However, Cupid fell in love with Psyche himself, visiting her in the dark to keep his identity secret. Here, Psyche, at right, views the sleeping Cupid to discover his identity. But oil from her lamp falls on Cupid, awakening him, and he abandons Psyche for her faithlessness. Sellaio's style is based on that of the principal Florentine painters of his time, particularly Botticelli. The painting originally decorated a wooden chest in which linens and household objects were stored.

ProvenanceAlexander Barker (d. 1873), Hatfield, near Doncaster; June 19, 1879, posthumous Barker sale, Christie's, London, lot 487a [see note 1], sold to Charles H. Butler (b. 1821 - d. 1910), London and Warren Wood, Hatfield, Hertford [see note 2]; May 25, 1911, posthumous Butler sale, Christie's, London, lot 45 [see note 3] sold for £525 to Thomas Agnew and Sons, London (stock no. 3666); May 25, 1911, sold by Agnew to Charles Fairfax Murray (b. 1849 - d. 1919), London and Florence; transferred from Charles Fairfax Murray to his son, John E. Murray; 1912, sold by John E. Murray to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 3, 1912)

NOTES:
[1] Attributed in the catalogue to F[ilippo] Lippi. [2] Lent by Charles Butler to the Royal Academy, Exhibition of Old Masters (London, 1880), cat. no. 227, as by Filippo Lippi; and the New Gallery, Exhibition of Early Italian Art (London, 1894), cat. no. 146, as by Filippino. [3] Attributed in the catalogue to Filippino Lippi.