“O latest born and loveliest vision far
Of all Olympus’ faded hierarchy!
Fairer than Phoebe’s sapphire-regioned star
Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;”
–John Keats, Ode to Psyche
First appeared in Lucius Apuleius’ novel The Golden Ass in the 2nd century CE, the story of Cupid and Psyche was the latest born among the ancient legends, but the loveliest by far. It is said that the beauty of Psyche was so great that even Venus was jealous of her. It so offended Venus that she ordered Cupid, her winged son, to give a revenge as sweet as her injuries were great.
Psyche, frowned upon by Venus, derived no benefit from her charm. While it procured an abundance of flattery, it could not awaken love. Upon consulting the oracle of Apollo, it was revealed that she was destined for the bride of no mortal lover. Her future husband, a monster whom neither gods nor men could resist, awaited her atop the mountain. Accordingly, the maid took her place in the procession to ascend the mountain. Atop the summit, Psyche discovered a magnificent palace of golden pillars and vaulted roof.
While her eyes were thus occupied, a voice addressed her that this was all hers, and the voices she heard were her servants. She was served lovely music and the most delicacy of food and nectareous of wine. But she had yet to see her husband. He came only in the hours of darkness and fled before dawn, but his accents were full of love. She begged him to stay, but he would not consent. One night, she beheld a lamp over him and saw the most beautiful and charming of the gods, with his golden ringlets and two dewy wings with shining feathers like the tender blossoms of spring. As she leaned the lamp over his face, a drop of burning oil fell on his shoulder and woke him up. Without saying a word, he spread his wings and flew out of the window.
Psyche wandered day and night in search of her husband. The holy Ceres took pity on her and advised her to surrender herself to Venus. Venus thus ordered her to a series of tasks that she must complete in order to win back Cupid. She said, “Here, take this box and go your way to the infernal shades, and give this box to Proserpine and say, ‘My mistress Venus desires you to send her a little of your beauty, for in tending to her sick son she has lost some of her own.’” Psyche, taking heed to her ways, travelled safely to the kingdom of Pluto. But upon her return, she couldn’t help but open the box herself. “What,” said she, “shall I, the carrier of this divine beauty, not take the least bit to put on my cheeks to appear to more advantage in the eyes of my beloved husband!” Alas there was nothing in the box but an infernal and truly Stygian sleep that took possession of her, and she fell down lifelessly in the midst of the road.
But Cupid, now recovered from his wound, came to Psyche as swift as lightning. Upon pleading his supplication to Jupiter, Psyche was given a cup of ambrosia to drink and be immortal, so that she was at last united with her beloved. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the soul. So striking and beautiful is the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings after a groveling caterpillar existence to flutter in the blaze of day.
To represent the god of love Cupid, I have chosen the hummingbird, who is native to the Americas. The Aztecs believed hummingbirds are reincarnated warriors, returning to life with swords as beaks to continue their eternal battles in the sky. To fuel their furious pace of life, a hummer visits 1500 flowers daily. The Portuguese called them flower kisser, and they are called buzzing flower in the Dominican Republic. The Spanish called them resurrection birds, as they believed that anything that glittered so brightly had to have been made new each day. Ancient Mexicans called them rays of the sun and tresses of the day star. The opalescent glow on their heads inspire naturalists to call the hummingbird a glittering fragment of rainbow, a breathing gem, a magical carbuncle of flaming fire.
Hummingbirds are the lightest birds in the sky and the fastest for their size. Their body is mostly air bubbles with a humongous heart, making up 2.5% of their body weight, the largest of all vertebrates. Not only can they fly forward, backward, and upside down, hovering is a unique ability to hummingbirds. For centuries, nobody knew how they could hover in midair, it was considered pure magic. The birds were believed to be without feet. The French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc wrote in his 1775 Histoire Naturelle, “The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz glitter in its garb, which is never soiled with the dust of earth.” Their wings beat so fast that it makes them a blur to human eyes. Not until the invention of the stroboscope that their flight mechanics were revealed. In order to hover, their wings move forward and backward in a figure eight. During the forward and backward strokes, the wings make 2 turns of nearly 180 degrees. Every stroke is a power stroke, requiring enormous strength. Hovering is so natural to them that a mother turns in her nest by lifting straight up into the air, twirling, then coming back down. A hummer can stay suspended in the air for up to an hour. They are considered masters of flight.
This patchwork depicts the kiss between the hummingbird and the butterfly, representing Cupid and Psyche. The motif is inspired by Antonio Canova’s sculpture Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, first commissioned in 1787. Even though considered a neoclassical work of art, the sculpture expresses the emergence of romanticism. It represents Cupid at the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss.
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