Psyche 🦋

Psyche at the well,
Benjamin Edward Spence

Apuleius (c 124 – c 170) lived in provincial North Africa (in present-day Algeria) and was the author of the only surviving complete novel in Latin. His work, entitled Metamorphoses, or alternatively The Golden Ass, includes the tale of Cupid and Psyche as a story within the story.

According to Apuleius’s narrative, Psyche (Roman Anima) is a mortal of unsurpassed beauty, outshining even the goddess of love Venus (Greek Aphrodite) herself. Jealous Venus sends her son Cupid (Greek Eros) to exact revenge by making Psyche fall in love with the most miserable and vilest of men. Cupid, however, falls in love with her himself. He later arranges her rescue from sacrifice to a monster and installs her in a sumptuous palace and visits her there every night. Cupid, however, withholds his true identity and forbids Psyche to look upon him.

Psyche’s scheming elder sisters visit and, jealous of her good fortune, convince her to determine the identity of her host, which must surely be the monster to which she was to be offered, and that she should slay the beast in its slumber. Armed with a dagger and a lamp, Psyche intends to carry out the plan, but when she beholds the god’s beauty she accidentally spills hot oil from the lamp onto Cupid which awakens him. Having discovered his true identity, Psyche is then abandoned by Cupid who flies off.

Distraught, she wanders in search of Cupid, trying in vain to enlist divine help. Finally, she renders herself to Venus, who tortures her and sets her four seemingly impossible tasks. With the help of some supernatural intervention, Psyche succeeds in accomplishing all of these, but in the final one, her curiosity and desires lead to her succumbing to an eternal sleep.

Cupid, now healed from the oil burn, finds Psyche, draws the sleep from her, and petitions Jupiter (Greek Zeus). Jupiter warns Venus off, grants immortality to Psyche, and approves the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. The happy couple have a daughter, Voluptas (Greek Hedone), goddess of pleasure.

• Cupid and Psyche (Wikipedia)
• The story of Cupid and Psyche as related by Apuleius (PDF)

Date:
3 November 2022

Location:
Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool
53.4101842,-2.9798814

Op Art, Tate Liverpool

‘Op Art in Focus’ exhibition

Date

25 April 2019

Location

Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool
SJ 33988 89828; 53.40111°N, 2.99430°W

Information

On show from 21 July 2018 until 5 July 2020 at the Tate Liverpool, Op Art in Focus is an exhibition featuring a variety of works of optical art. The Op Art movement began in the 1960s and is known for its use of bold colours, lines and geometric shapes.

Further Reading

Tate Liverpool

Leonardo da Vinci – ‘A Life in Drawing’ exhibition

The head of Leda (c 1505-08). Black chalk, pen and ink.

Date

25 April 2019

Location

Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool
SJ 34995 90768; 53.40969°N, 2.97936°W

Information

In February 2019, to mark the 500th anniversary of his death, 144 of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings from the Royal Collection went on display in 12 concurrent exhibitions across the UK, with each venue hosting 12 separate works.

Further Reading

Walker Art Gallery

Mostyn

Mostyn

Date

19 August 2017

Location

Vaughan Street, Llandudno
SH 78537 82048; 53.321378°N, 3.824968°W

Information

Further Reading

Mostyn (GeoTopoi, 2014);
Mostyn (LustreBox, 2011)

Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Date

23 August 2016

Location

Bridge Lane, Perth
NO 11972 23814; 56.39833°N, 3.42776°W

Information

With its roots dating back to the founding of the Antiquarian Society of Perth in 1784, Perth Museum and Art Gallery is one of the oldest museums in the UK. The museum owns a collection of more than half a million items. The museum building, originally known as The Monument, was designed by amateur architect David Morison (c1792-1855), who was Secretary of the Perth’s Literary and Antiquarian Society. The building opened in 1824 and was donated by the Society to the city of Perth in 1915 on the condition that it remained in use as a public museum or library. An extension, designed by Perth architects Smart Stewart Mitchell, to the original building was completed in 1935.

Further Reading

Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Mostyn

Cast-iron verandah

Date	16 March 2014
Location	Vaughan Street, Llandudno	SH 78537 82048; 53.321378, -3.824968
Information	Designed by architect G A Humphreys, the Mostyn Art Gallery opened in 1901 as a public gallery funded by Lady Augusta Mostyn to exhibit works by female artists. The gallery closed twelve years later and the building was subsequently put to a variety of uses until eventually reopening as an art gallery, Oriel Mostyn, in 1979. Now branded simply as ‘Mostyn’, the gallery of contemporary art underwent a three-year programme of renovation and extension which was completed in 2010. Further Reading Mostyn (official site); Oriel Mostyn art gallery (HistoryPoints); Mostyn (LustreBox)