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Psyche (Fetisov's painting)
Psyche
also: Психея
The unfinished picture of Psyche that the painter Fetisov is struggling to complete, for which he borrows Anyuta and other models; his complaint that it "just isn't coming out" underlines the gap between the classical ideal subject and his shabby working conditions.
Reading notes
- Anyuta §24 Психею
Psyche, the mortal beloved of Cupid in classical myth (and a byword for the human soul), was a favorite subject for academic painters of the era; Fetisov's struggling, multiple-model attempt at a "Psyche" is a small joke about the gap between the ideal subject and the shabby reality of his models and studio life.