Eros and Psyche

A muscular, winged male figure crouches with arms raised overhead, his feathered wings spread wide above a nude woman curled tightly on the floor, her face pressed against her knees. Gold and crimson drapery hangs behind them, and scattered across the foreground floor are a bow, arrows, a quiver, cherries and other classical props, staged within a shadowy, red-lit chamber.

Rendered in tight, academic realism, the anatomy, feathers, and drapery are polished and precisely modeled. A saturated red and black palette with warm highlights on flesh creates strong chiaroscuro, and smooth, controlled brushwork with careful detail produces a heightened, theatrical, dramatic mood.