This painting illustrates an episode from the classical myth of Cupid & Psyche, which was originally told by Apuleius in his ' Golden Ass'. It is an early work by Fragonard, executed in 1753, the year after he had won the Prix de Rome & before his first Italian visit. An immediate success, it was exhibited with other paintings at Versailles in 1754, but later passed into obscurity with an attribution to Carle van Loo. At some date it was cut down along the top & left sides. Fragonard's work is probably based on La Fontaine's version of the fable. After falling in love with Psyche, Cupid had visited her only at night, forbidding her to look upon him. In the painting, Psyche shows her two sisters the gifts she has received from her lover, & moved by jealousy
- a Fury appears in the sky above the sisters
- they persuade her to uncover Cupid's identity & thus wreck her happiness. The painting shows the emergence of Fragonard's more elegant style from the manner established by Boucher, whose pupil he had been. In many details it derives from sketches made by Boucher in 1737 for a series of tapestries illustrating this story, but there is more movement in Fragonard's painting & his colours are sharper. Painting of the Month, February 2005

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This painting illustrates a story from Ovid's ' Metamorphoses' (I, 793-820). The nymph Syrinx was pursued by the amorous Pan as far as the river Ladon, where she begged her sisters of the river, one of whom is shown reclining on an urn, to help her. Thinking that he had caught Syrinx, Pan clasped at her, but the river nymphs changed Syrinx into the reeds growing on the river bank, from which he later made his pipes. He rushes towards Syrinx in Boucher's painting, urged on by the boy Cupid holding an arrow & a burning torch. In its scale & intimate character, the painting is very like the work of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684
- 1721) although the theme is directly mythological & the treatment more overtly erotic. Imbued with drama, it is also more distinctly reminiscent of Rubens in style. Two drawings by Boucher connected with this composition are known, both executed in red, black & white chalks (private collection; Bloomington, Indiana, University Art Museum).
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Pan chased the nymph Syrinx through Arcadia. When she came to the river Ladon she could flee no further; her prayer for escape was answered as she was transformed into reeds, from which Pan subsequently made his pan pipes. Ovid, ' Metamorphoses' (I, 689-71 ...

As with many of Reynolds's group portraits the design is based on a composition taken from an historical source. In this case the painting is based on a 17th-century work, ' Charity' by Van Dyck; also in the Collection. It was brought to England from Antwe ...

The painting, probably of about 1645, is one of the largest & most ambitious of Teniers's compositions. The action in the foreground is reflected in the disposition of the landscape, which is largely featureless in the centre, behind the seated figure on ...

This picture shows a landscape inspired by the countryside near Rome, with the remains of an aqueduct prominently silhouetted against the blue Mediterranean sky. It is not entirely clear when the artist went to Italy, but it has been suggested that he wen ...

Wijnants lived & worked in Haarlem & almost all his landscapes show the characteristic sandy dune landscape between Haarlem & the coast. However, this painting is unlikely to depict a specific location. The figures are not by Wijnants but by one of ...

After his return from Italy (by 1653), Lingelbach was increasingly influenced by the work of the successful & prolific Philips Wouwermans &, in particular, by his landscapes containing figures at work or on horseback. This is an excellent example of h ...

The man plays a lute. The owl on the window ledge may be a reference to sinfulness. This painting has been generally accepted as a work of David Teniers the Younger, but it displays weaknesses of handling. It is painted in the style of the mid-1630s & may be a copy of a lost original. The initials F/DB on the reverse of the panel may be those of the panel-maker François de Bout who became a master in the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke in 1637-8. ...