The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche

The painting represents the marriage of Cupid, the son of Venus, with the mortal Psyche, in the presence of Juno, Jupiter, Mars, and other gods of Olympus as narrated by second-century Latin author Apuleius in The Golden Ass. Originally an octagon (the four corners are additions), it was the central panel of a ceiling with scenes from the legend of Psyche installed in the Castello di Salvatore di Collalto, in the hills to the north of Venice, in about 1550. Schiavone’s fluid and painterly style and the exaggerated proportions of his figures were inspired by Parmigianino and were in turn important to a younger generation of Venetian painters such as Tintoretto.