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| Psyche and Cupid (oval), Scott Bodenheimer 1995, woven color plates, 18" x 15", 46 x 38cm |
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Psyche was the youngest of three daughters of a king, and the most beautiful. People praised Psyche so much saying that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, which was a dangerous thing to do, because it made the goddess jealous, which contorted her features so that in fact she was less beautiful than Psyche.
Later when Aphrodite calmed down, she called her son Eros to her side, and bade him to shoot one of his arrows into Psyche’s heart, so that she would fall in love with the most hideous man on earth. Eros, who always had a mischievous nature, agreed, and flew down from Olympus, to hide and lie in wait for Psyche. When she approached, Eros notched an arrow into his bow, and prepared to let it fly, but as she grew closer, he was stunned by her beauty and fell in love with her on the spot. He made himself invisible, and seized Psyche, which caused her to faint, and he flew away with her.
When Psyche woke up, she found herself in a palace all made of colored marbles, with fountains and tamed animals, and furniture made of ivory, with upholstery and draperies made of silk. The servants were all invisible and replied to her in melodic tones, and brought her whatever she desired as soon as she asked, or played music to entertain her. She had her days to herself, but at night, in the darkness, Eros would come to her, and delight her until morning. |
Her mysterious lover told her that her life would remain as perfect as long she didn’t get curious, and wonder who he was. And Psyche’s new life did give her much joy, and she accepted that her lover would stay hidden, but all the same, she grew lonely for company, and one night begged Eros to allow her sisters to pay her a visit. He resisted her pleas, but finally relented when he felt her tears fall on his face.
The next day, her sisters were transported to the palace. Psyche showed them every splendid room and the invisible servants laid out a magnificent feast, and played music while they ate. The sisters were envious though, for they had only managed to marry minor neighboring kings, and each one’s own palace wouldn’t have looked half as fine as the rudest stable for Psyche’s tame horses. So in turn, they wheedled and carped, asking Psyche “however could she lie with a man that never showed his face? Perhaps he’s a horrible monster? Maybe he’s just biding his time until he decides to eat you up?”
That evening, after the sisters had been carried back to their shabby palaces, Psyche became distraught from what they had said. After all, she had felt the feathers of Eros’ wings, and one time she reached for him before he’d managed to remove his quiver of arrows, and for a second she’d felt the pricks of the arrow points. Perhaps he was a monster. |
So later in the deepest part of the night, after Eros had fallen asleep, Psyche crept out of bed and found an oil lamp, and lit it. Frightened but resolved, she came back to the bed and pulled the drapery aside, and holding the lamp above her sleeping lover, she saw the most beautiful figure of a man, with wings covered with feathers in every color. She trembled at the sight, and a drop of hot oil fell from the lamp upon Eros’ shoulder.
The god woke up with a start, and furious that she had disobeyed him, he pushed her aside and flew away. The magic palace faded away to mist all around her, and she was left completely alone, and she collapsed with pain. A whole day passed before all her tears were exhausted. Psyche stood up and started to wander. She knew that her lover had to be a god, so she visited every temple she came across and prayed that he would return to her. Finally she reached a temple of Aphrodite, and prayed to the goddess of love, saying that she would serve her faithfully and do whatever the goddess asked, if she could just see her lover once again. Eros had flown to his mother directly, and she had drunk in his rage, and had healed his wound, but she still smarted from all those weeks when Eros had defied her to spend his time with Psyche.
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Hearing Psyche’s pleas, Aphrodite caught her up and brought her to her own palace. She was amazed to see that even tear-stained and with her hair in tangles, Psyche was still lovelier than any mortal or god. Smiling sweetly, and hiding her fury, Aphrodite held Psyche close, and promised to help her find her lover, that is, as she said in a little girl voice, if Psyche “could just possibly do just the tiniest thing for her?”
“Anything,” Psyche replied. Aphrodite brought out a little golden casket with a lid, and told Psyche that “in this box I keep my reserve of beauty, and that lately I’ve been so tired, and I’ve used up a little too much of it. So it would just be ever so helpful, and I’d be just so tremendously grateful and helpful to you, if you could just pop down to see my friend Persephone, and ask her if she could spare a bit of her beauty for me.”
To pop down to see Persephone was something of an understatement, because Persephone was goddess of Hell, and the Queen of the Dead. At a loss as to how to reach the kingdom of the dead, Psyche climbed a stone tower, preparing to kill herself. But a voice called out to her, and told her not to throw herself off, and revealed another way to Hell , through the mouth of a cave. And the voice (which was that of Eros, disguised), went on to tell her how to get past the three headed guardian dog Cerberus. |
It told her how to persuade Charon, the ferryman, to row her across the river Styx. And he added one more bit of advice, not to look within the casket of beauty. Psyche made her way to Queen Persephone, who was herself frightenly beautiful. the way dark things sometimes are, and was offered a splendid banquet, but the voice had warned her not to accept any food, or she’d be trapped in Hell the way Persephone had been after she’d eaten six seeds from a pomegranate. So after Psyche delivered her request, and Persephone filled the little casket with beauty, Psyche made her way back to Aphrodite’s palace.
Excited that the goddess would reveal who her lover was, and bring the two of them together, Psyche became worried that she would look out of sorts after her tiring trip, and thinking that it could hardly hurt to take just a small bit of beauty for herself, she opened the lid of the casket just a hair. Out of it poured the deepest deadly sleep, and Psyche fell unconscious.
Eros rushed to her, and pricked her with one of his arrows to wake her up, and she was more beautiful than ever. He chided her for her curiousity that had caused her so much trouble, but not too harshly, because her strength and persistence had made him love her even more. |
He took her straight up to Olympus and at the throne of Zeus, begged the god to soothe Aphrodite’s anger so that he could love Psyche forever. Zeus was the king of the gods, and though he had been the hapless victim of Eros’ arrows more than anyone, he was still overpowered, as we alll are by love, and was moved. He persuaded Aphrodite to accept Psyche. Then the messenger god Hermes, who among his other duties guided the souls of the dead, took Psyche by the hand and gave her a cup of ambrosia to drink, which made her immortal, and caused two butterfly wings to spring from her back. The god then placed Psyche’s hand together with the hand of Eros, and decreed that both of them would be tied together in love for all time.
I made this work as a wedding present. The image is made of paintings of flowers and butterflies, and the figures are modeled after a kissing couple in Rubens’ painting De Kermis (La Kermesse), which hangs in the Louvre. I made two earlier pieces with the same theme, in rectangular formats. To see one of these pieces and to read more about the myth of Psyche and Cupid. |
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