Fig. 24.—Eros trying his Bow. Capitoline Museum.
This deity was termed by the Romans Amor, or Cupido, but this was solely in imitation of the Greek Eros, since he never enjoyed among them any public veneration.
The significant fable of the love of Cupid for Psyche, a personification of the human soul, is of comparatively late origin, though it was a very favourite subject in art.
Artists followed the poets in the delineation of Eros, in so far as they generally depicted him as a boy on the confines of youth. An Eros by the renowned artist Praxiteles was esteemed one of the best works of antiquity. It was brought to Rome by Nero, but was destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus. In later times the god of love was represented as much younger, because the mischievous pranks attributed to him by the poets were more adapted to the age of childhood.
Fig. 25.—Polyhymnia. Berlin Museum.
A considerable number of statues or statuettes of Eros have come down to us from antiquity. Among the most celebrated is the Torso (mutilated statue) of the Vatican, of the glorious head of which we give an engraving (Fig. 23). There is also an “Eros trying his bow” (Fig. 24) in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and an “Eros playing with dice” in the Berlin Museum. Lastly, there is the celebrated group of the Capitoline Museum, which represents the embraces of Cupid and Psyche.
Eros generally appears with wings in the art monuments of antiquity. His insignia are bow and arrows, in addition to a burning torch. The rose was held especially sacred to him, for which reason he often appears crowned with roses.
In connection with Venus and in company with Amor we find Hymenæus, a personification of the joys of marriage, who was, however, only recognised by later writers and by later art. He is portrayed as a beautiful youth, winged like Eros, but taller, and of a more serious aspect. His indispensable attribute is the marriage torch.