ART.
Cupid makes one of the most attractive subjects in sculpture. We know him at a glance, whether beside his mother, with Psyche, or alone.
The Cupid of the illustration is the work of Michael Angelo. It was discovered forty years ago hidden away in the cellars of the Ruccelli Palace, Florence, and passed by purchase into the possession of the English nation and is now in the South Kensington Museum.
Cupid is seen in the statue as a well-grown youth, a noble conception of the young god. He seems to stand for a love that is determined, for a love that conquers every obstacle. He has dropped on one knee to take an arrow from the ground. In his raised left hand he holds the bow.
Vulcan.
“The Crippled Artist God.”
“He made the gods their golden shoes,
And shod their steeds with brass.”
STORY.
THE GOD OF FIRE.
“Those who labor
The sweaty forge, who edge the crooked scythe,
Bend stubborn steel, and harden gleaming armor,
Acknowledge Vulcan’s aid.”
—Prior.
Vulcan, the son of Jupiter, was born lame. He was flung from Olympus by his mother, Juno, who hated him for his deformity, and he fell into the sea, where the mother of Achilles found him. He made for her son a shield, which was a wonderfully clever piece of handiwork. Many celebrated pieces of metal work were ascribed to Vulcan. In revenge for his mother’s cruel treatment of him, he fashioned a cunningly devised throne which held her by invisible bonds against her will. The thunder bolts of Jupiter, the trident of Neptune and the girdle of Venus all came from his workshop.