William Bougeureau's painting inspired this piece. If my sculpture is compared to the painting it is easy to see how I have kept the color, feeling, and pose of the painting, but the figures are very different.

I intentionally modernized them to help us learn the lessons of this myth today. The myth of Cupid and Psyche is a tender story of love and sacrifice. There are several versions of this myth. This one is, however, the one I read first. The story touched my heart deeply, and moved me to actually start the sculpture. There is ancient truth in the story that even writers of today weave in modern tales. In this myth Cupid represents the heart, and Psyche is thought to be the human soul. Her tasks and sorrows stand for the struggles of the human soul. The Greek word psyche means soul or life. There is much to learn by studying this simple story.

Psyche was a lovely earthly princess. Her beauty was so great that Venus became jealous of her. Venus ordered her son Cupid to go to Earth and pierce her with an arrow to make Psyche fall in love with an old, ugly man.

Cupid was so startled at the loveliness of Psyche that he pricked himself with one of his own arrows accidentally. The wound made him fall deeply in love with her. He returned to Mount Olympus to ask his Mother's permission to marry Psyche. Venus was very angry, but allowed the marriage on the condition that Psyche would never be allowed to see her husband. Cupid whisked Psyche away to his castle. Psyche never saw her husband because he only came to her at night. Cupid had told her that he would have to leave her if she ever looked upon him.

Overcome with curiosity, Psyche crept to his room one night with a lighted lamp. The beauty of the handsome young god surprised her, and she spilled a drop of hot oil on his shoulder. Cupid awakened, and vanished.

In her grief, Psyche went to Venus and begged to see her husband again. Venus compelled her to perform three hard tasks as criteria for seeing Cupid again, hoping she would be rid of her once and for all. During the completion of the last of these hard tasks, Psyche lost her life. But by completing the task, Cupid was made visible again. The myth now tells of Cupid's broken heart, and of his difficult decision to use his own godly powers to bring Psyche back to life again. This enraged his Mother. Cupid was only a lesser god. Knowing his Mother's powers, he went to Jupiter (Zeus) to beg him to make Venus forgive them both. Jupiter took pity on the two lovers, and made Venus forgive them and accept their love and marriage. He also gave immortality to Psyche. And thus the story ends happily. The Myth teaches us that real love requires great sacrifice and unconditional love and commitment.