The soul’s fair emblem.”
—Coleridge.
The purpose of the story is to illustrate the three stages in the existence of a soul—its pre-existence in a blessed state, its existence on earth, its trials and anguish, and its future state of happy immortality.
ART.
One of the most beautiful of the many representations of this fascinating story is Canova’s statue in the Louvre of Cupid awakening Psyche. We cannot fail to have an exalted conception of true beauty after gazing upon it. It has been said that no kiss in modern art is so ideal as the one here enjoyed. The youthful figures show grace of form combined with an exalted spirituality. Only a refined nature could have conceived the subject so purely.
Mercury.
“The Master Thief.”
“By thy winged cap
And winged heels I know thee: thou art Hermes,