The Bath of Psyche

The Bath of Psyche shows the heroine of the myth of Cupid and Psyche as she undresses to bathe, awaiting the arrival of the god of love. The scene works as a study in self-absorption: Psyche is lost in looking at her own body, and her reflection in the still water underlines that absorption, inviting a reading centred on narcissism. The story, told by Apuleius in The Golden Ass, was a favourite with writers and artists in the second half of the nineteenth century, and Leighton treats it with a polished, refined line that recalls Ingres, particularly his The Source. The pose, with arms raised, derives from the Greco-Roman statue known as the Venus Callipyge, which Leighton would have admired in Naples. The picture grew out of a modest commission: a narrow, elongated panel for the decoration of Alma-Tadema's house. When Leighton expanded the idea into a canvas, he removed much of the water and its reflections and added a colonnade of marble columns to widen the space. Shown at the Royal Academy in 1890, it was warmly received and reproduced more widely than almost any other of his works during his lifetime.

Painter

Frederic Leighton

Date

1890

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

189 × 62 cm

Museum

Tate Britain, London

Movement

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Genre

mythological painting, nude

Depicts

Psyche

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