Cupid in the context of "Temple de l'Amour"

Sacred and Profane Love (Italian: Amor Sacro e Amor Profano) is an oil painting by Titian, probably painted in 1514, early in his career. The painting is presumed to have been commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, a secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten, whose coat of arms appears on the sarcophagus or fountain, to celebrate his marriage to a young widow, Laura Bagarotto. It perhaps depicts a figure representing the bride dressed in white, sitting beside Cupid and accompanied by the goddess Venus.

The title of the painting is first recorded in 1693, when it was listed in an inventory as Amor Divino e Amor Profano (Divine love and Profane love), and may not represent the original concept at all.

A putto (Italian: [ˈputto]; plural putti [ˈputti]) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and very often winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism, the putto came to represent a sort of baby angel in religious art, often called a cherub (plural cherubim), though in traditional Christian theology, a cherub is actually one of the most senior types of angel.

The same figures were also seen in representations of classical myth, and increasingly in general decorative art. In Baroque art the putto came to represent the omnipresence of God. A putto representing a cupid is also called an amorino (plural amorini) or amoretto (plural amoretti).

Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses (also called The Golden Ass), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche (/ˈsaɪkiː/; Ancient Greek: Ψυχή, lit. 'Soul' or 'Breath of Life', Ancient Greek pronunciation: [psyːkʰɛ̌ː]) and Cupid (Latin: Cupido, lit. 'Desire', Latin pronunciation: [kʊˈpiːd̪oː]) or Amor (lit. 'Love', Greek Eros, Ἔρως), and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. Although the only extended narrative from antiquity is that of Apuleius from the 2nd century AD, Eros and Psyche appear in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC. The story's Neoplatonic elements and allusions to mystery religions accommodate multiple interpretations, and it has been analyzed as an allegory and in light of folktale, Märchen or fairy tale, and myth.

The story of Cupid and Psyche was known to Boccaccio in c. 1370. The first printed version dates to 1469. Ever since, the reception of Cupid and Psyche in the classical tradition has been extensive. The story has been retold in poetry, drama, and opera, and depicted widely in painting, sculpture, and even wallpaper.

Eros (UK: /ˈɪərɒs, ˈɛrɒs/, US: /ˈɛrɒs, ˈɛroʊs/ ; Ancient Greek: Ἔρως, lit. 'Love, Desire') is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite.

He is usually presented as a handsome young man, though in some appearances he is a juvenile boy full of mischief, ever in the company of his mother. In both cases, he is winged and carries his signature bow and arrows, which he uses to make both mortals and immortal gods fall in love, often under the guidance of Aphrodite. His role in myths is mostly complementary, and he often appears in the presence of Aphrodite and the other love gods and often acts as a catalyst for people to fall in love, but has little unique mythology of his own; the most major exception being the myth of Eros and Psyche, the story of how he met and fell in love with his wife.

Love's Messenger is an 1885 watercolor by Marie Spartali Stillman in which a dove has just carried a love letter to a woman standing in front of an open window. She wears a red rose, and has just put down her embroidery of a blind-folded Cupid.

The artist modestly described the painting in 1906:

Michel Philibert Genod (20 September 1795, Lyon – 24 July 1862, Lyon) was a French genre and history painter in the Troubador style.

Sappho and Phaon is an 1809 neoclassical painting by the French painter Jacques-Louis David of Cupid, Sappho and her lover Phaon. It was commissioned by Prince Nikolai Yusupov for his Moika Palace and is now the only painting by David in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Sappho and Phaon was the second of David's major paintings to take a mythological love story as its subject, after The Loves of Paris and Helen from 1788. It is visually very similar to that earlier work – the two paintings are sufficiently similar that a preparatory drawing for Sappho and Phaon was traditionally identified as being a sketch for Paris and Helen. It may also have recalled the painting Sappho Singing her Poetry and Accompanying Herself on the Lyre by David's painting tutor Joseph-Marie Vien, though that painting is now lost and no images of it survive.

In classical mythology, Psyche (/ˈsaɪkiː/; Greek: Ψυχή, romanized: Psykhḗ Ancient Greek: [psyːkʰɛ̌ː]; Greek pronunciation: [psiˈçi]) is the immortal wife of Cupid, Roman god of erotic love and desire. She is often represented as a beautiful woman with butterfly wings.

Psyche is known from the ancient Roman proto-novel The Golden Ass (also known as the Metamorphoses), written by philosopher and orator Apuleius in the 2nd century. In the story, Psyche violates the trust of her new husband, Cupid, and must endure multiple trials at the hand of his mother, Venus, to win him back. At the conclusion of her trials, the couple is reconciled and married, and Psyche is made immortal. Though The Golden Ass is the only known version of Psyche's story from antiquity, the cultural influences of the narrative are depicted in art dating back to the 4th century BCE.