A Dream of Love

Created by Charles John Allen

Date: 1895
Usually date of exhibition rather than production

Object class: sculpture

Object type: figure group

Material: metal - bronze

Technique: cast

Description: The subject is the legend of Cupid and Psyche. Allen shows the boy-god tenderly embracing the sleeping maiden, indicating the importance of redemptive, celestial love. The artist has however placed a self-portrait statuette in Cupid’s left hand, as the boy-god prepares to capture Psyche’s heart by shooting an arrow. This witty device also suggests the myth’s darker undertones of entrapment.

Notes: This was one of Allen's most successful works and several casts were made. There is one in the collection of the University of Liverpool.

Citing this record

'A Dream of Love', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/object.php?id=ann_1283460469, accessed 29 Mar 2023]