Cleveland Museum of Art

Cupid and Psyche

Jacques-Louis David

Date

1813

Medium

gray wash and pen and black ink with white paint and traces of black chalk

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This drawing belongs to a group of preparatory studies for Jacques-Louis David's painting Cupid and Psyche, 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. 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.

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