The Nuptials of Cupid and Psyche

This painting shows that painters in Italy at this period were well able to combine their dependence on France with their own studies of Antiquity and their encounter with Mengs. The painting would be inconceivable without the transmission of ideas from France. In his own days it was recognized that Palagi had adopted some elements from famous works of Antiquity - we can see that Jupiter Verospi in the Vatican served as model, Psyche is oriented to the Venus Victrix, and Cupid derives from Raphael.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria