The Flight of Cupid (1901): Art, History and Details

The Flight of Cupid (1901) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Charles de Sousy Ricketts (British, 1866–1931).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Charles S. Ricketts created this print for his edition of ancient Roman philosopher Lucius Apuleius’s De Cupidinis et Psyches amoribus (Of the Love of Cupid and Psyche). He focused on the moment when the god of love, Cupid, spreads his wings to abandon his mortal lover Psyche. The dramatic imagery is characteristic of the kinds of illustrations Ricketts composed for books produced by his private publishing firm, the Vale Press, which he established to address what he saw as the declining quality of mass-produced publications. Like William Morris, Ricketts was involved in all aspects of his books: he designed the bindings, illustrations, borders, initials, and even the typefaces used by his press.

Object facts

• Title: The Flight of Cupid
• Date: 1901
• Creator attribution: Charles de Sousy Ricketts (British, 1866–1931)
• Culture: England, early 20th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: wood engraving
• Dimensions: Image: 9.8 x 8.5 cm (3 7/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Sheet: 16.6 x 12.4 cm (6 9/16 x 4 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Wood engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1947.445

Collection credit

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.