Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2011.

Psyche Gathering the Fleece of the Rams of the Sun

Artist Charles-Joseph Natoire (French, 1700 - 1777)

Date1752

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Support: 37 1/2 x 50 1/2 in. (95.3 x 128.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 49 1/4 x 61 1/4 in. (125.1 x 155.6 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2241

Terms

Animals
Birds
Men
Women
Landscape
LaFontaine
Fable
Mythology
Psyche
Venus
Blue
Green
White
Brown
Rococo
Rome, Italy

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting depicting Psyche gathering the fleece for Venus, or Psyche gathering the fleece of the Rams of the Sun. The scene represents an episode from Jean de La Fontaine's 1669 pastoral novel, _The Loves of Cupid and Psyche_. The center foreground is Psyche as a shepherdess in flowing and somewhat rumpled garments collecting wool from the brambles. Collecting the wool, or fleece of the Ram of the Sun, is seen as nearly impossible, and it is the second task Venus has asked Psyche to complete to avoid destruction. The background is pastoral: clouds, hills, trees, shepherds and rams fill the canvas. Two swans, who helped Psyche across the river, face each other in the middle of the canvas. On the left, a nymph in billowing clothes distracts the shepherd while Psyche gathers the wool. The left foreground shows a detail of a green plant. In the foreground at right, a ram peers out at the face of the viewer.

Label TextCharles-Joseph Natoire French, 1700–1777, active Paris and Rome Psyche Gathering the Fleece of the Rams of the Sun, 1752 Oil on canvas You might not find this painting shocking. But the image of love-smitten Psyche as a dewy-eyed beauty whose clothes all but fall away would have titillated the artist’s Parisian and Roman patrons. The love goddess Venus has forced Psyche to gather the fleece of the fierce, red-eyed rams of the sun—a nearly impossible task—but Psyche outwits the goddess by picking wool from the brambles. While Rococo artists reveled in such openly sensual works, the rising generation of Neoclassical artists would soon dismiss them as frivolous and even immoral. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2241