The Evolution of Cupid and Eros

An Artistic Quest by Arjan Spannenburg

Desire, lust, and attraction, emotions we have attributed to Cupido, the God of Love, for centuries. For many, his name (or his Greek counterpart, Eros) evokes the image of a winged baby aimlessly firing arrows, an innocent symbol for Valentine’s cards.

However, art history tells a far more complex story. Eros was not always a putto (baby). In his origins, he was a man, an entity that brought both chaos and order, feared and adored. How did he transition from a powerful young man to a mischievous child? And what does this transition reveal about our evolving perception of love?

To understand this, we must return to the myth that sealed his fate: the love of Cupido and Psyche.

A Love in the Dark: The Myth of Eros and Psyche

The most defining narrative for Eros is his tragic and heroic love for Psyche. It begins with beauty so breathtaking that Psyche, a king’s daughter, was feared rather than courted. An oracle decreed she was destined for a monster. Yet, she was carried by the west wind to a palace of impossible beauty.

Eros visited her only under the cover of night, leaving before dawn. His reason was profound: he wished to be loved as an equal, not worshipped as a god.

The Temptation of Light

Driven by suspicion, Psyche eventually lit a lamp to see her lover's face. Instead of a monster, she found the most beautiful being imaginable. In her shock, a drop of hot oil fell from her lamp onto his shoulder. Eros awoke and fled, uttering the bitter truth: "Love cannot dwell where suspicion lives."

A Baroque oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the myth of Cupid and Psyche; Psyche leans over a sleeping Cupid, illuminating his form with an oil lamp. The painting features dramatic chiaroscuro, warm earth tones, and fluid, expressive brushwork characteristic of 17th-century Flemish Fine Art. — In this work by Peter Paul Rubens, we see the moment of discovery. Rubens rejects the "baby" image, portraying Eros as a muscular, powerful man, emphasizing the physical and mature nature of their bond.

The Evolution of Form: From Youth to Putto

The way Eros is depicted often reveals the type of love an artist intends to convey: playful and fleeting, or overwhelming and sexual. In Greek antiquity, he was a "slender youth." It was only later, influenced by satirical texts, that he evolved into the chubby Renaissance Cupido.

Blindness and Eroticism in the Renaissance

Sometimes the form is used to deliver a moral message. In Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera, Cupido appears as a blindfolded child, symbolizing the randomness and "blindness" of infatuation.

Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece, Primavera, featuring a blindfolded Cupid hovering above the goddess Venus in a lush orange grove. The scene depicts a mythological allegory with various figures from classical antiquity, showcasing Botticelli's signature lyrical lines, delicate floral details, and the symbolic representation of 'blind love' through the winged infant archer. — The Blindness of Infatuation: In this detail from Botticelli’s Primavera, Cupido is famously depicted as a blindfolded putto. Hovering above the center of the composition, he aims his arrow blindly, a Renaissance allegory for the unpredictable and often irrational nature of romantic desire, a stark contrast to the mature, conscious Eros explored in Arjan Spannenburg’s modern interpretations.

In sharp contrast, Agnolo Bronzino presents a far more provocative interpretation. In his allegory, Cupido is an erotic teenager. Here, nudity is not about innocence; it is a direct reference to physicality, fertility, and seduction.

An Allegory with Venus and Cupid by Agnolo Bronzino; a Mannerist painting featuring a sophisticated and eroticized Cupid embracing Venus. The scene is crowded with symbolic figures including Folly and Father Time, rendered with the cold, porcelain-like skin tones and complex, elongated poses typical of the 16th-century Tuscan style. — Provocative Mannerism: Agnolo Bronzino presents a far more provocative interpretation of the God of Love. Here, Cupido is depicted as an erotic teenager, where nudity is not a symbol of innocence but a direct reference to physicality, fertility, and seduction. This shift toward a more mature, confrontational form mirrors the raw energy Spannenburg captures in his contemporary photographic quest.

The Realism of Caravaggio: Love as Flesh and Blood

Caravaggio famously refused the safe, polished path. In Amor Vincet Omnia (Love Conquers All), he painted Eros as a real street boy with wings. He is defiant, laughing, and human, possessing a messy reality rather than marble perfection.

A dramatic Baroque masterpiece by Caravaggio titled Amor Vincet Omnia, featuring a realistic young boy as Cupid with dark eagle wings. He stands triumphantly over scattered symbols of human endeavor—musical instruments, armor, and a manuscript. The painting uses intense chiaroscuro to highlight the figure’s defiant, human expression and earthly physicality. — The Realism of Caravaggio: Caravaggio famously refused the safe, polished path. In Amor Vincet Omnia (Love Conquers All), he painted Eros as a real boy with wings, defiant, laughing, and human. This earthy, whimsical depiction suggests that love is not a distant ideal, but something confrontational and close, a philosophy that deeply informs Spannenburg’s own photographic "CUPIDO" series.

This earthy, whimsical depiction suggests that love is not a lofty, distant ideal, but something confrontational and close. This same raw energy is found in later neoclassical sculptures, which sought to balance divine grace with the athletic form of a maturing youth.

A Rococo marble sculpture by Edme Bouchardon depicting a teenage Cupid leaning forward to carve his bow from Hercules' club. The statue showcases an athletic, maturing male form and intricate anatomical detail, marking a departure from the chubby "putto" toward a more adolescent representation of the God of Love. — The Athleticism of Youth: Edme Bouchardon’s sculpture seeks to balance divine grace with the athletic form of a maturing youth. By depicting Cupid as an adolescent rather than a child, Bouchardon mirrors the original Greek "slender youth" and anticipates Arjan Spannenburg’s return to this phase of transformation in his own work.

Even in the 19th century, artists like William Bouguereau continued to play with this adolescent form, capturing a sense of melancholy and transition that bridges the gap between the divine and the human.

A late 19th-century Academic painting by William Bouguereau titled "Cupidon." A pensive, winged adolescent Cupid stands in a forest setting, looking directly at the viewer with a melancholy expression. The painting is known for its hyper-realistic skin textures, soft lighting, and the transition between innocence and self-awareness. — The Melancholy of Transition: In the 19th century, William Bouguereau captured a sense of melancholy and transition that bridges the gap between the divine and the human. This adolescent form, standing at the dawn of self-awareness, serves as a direct artistic predecessor to the "shadow side" of the myth explored in Spannenburg’s modern interpretations.

A Modern Interpretation: The CUPIDO Series by Arjan Spannenburg

This art-historical journey brings us to the present. In my photography, I feel a strong kinship with Caravaggio and the classical Greek vision. Why reduce the God of Love to a decorative cherub when love itself is so complex, raw, and mature?

With my series CUPIDO, I break from the tradition of the putto and return to adolescence. This is the phase of transformation: the transition from child to man, mirroring the original Eros.

A Dialogue with the Masters

Where most of my work explores the abstraction of black-and-white, I consciously chose color for this series. It is an ode to classical painting. The warm skin tones and blonde hair of the model contrast with deep, petrol-green backgrounds, a nod to the nights where Eros and Psyche met.

In my series, the traditional symbols, the wings and arrows, are present, but the posture conveys the weight of responsibility and the dawn of self-awareness.

In works like Blind and The Quest, I investigate the shadow side of the myth. Here, Cupido is not just the hunter, but also the prey of his own emotions.

The Vulnerability of the God

The paradox of the CUPIDO series lies in portraying the God of Love as vulnerable and uncertain. Set against shadowy, forested environments, the figure navigates the darkness while bearing the tools of his power.

For me, love is not a baby. It is a transition, a powerful, human, and often heavy burden of the heart. Through this series, I invite collectors and curators to look beyond the Valentine’s cliché and see the Eros that has haunted art history for millennia: the beautiful, dangerous, and deeply human god of our desires.

Are you interested in adding a piece from the CUPIDO series to your collection?