Psyche Carried off by Zephyrs, after Prud'hon c. 19th century

Curator: This is Giovanni Beltrami's, "Psyche Carried off by Zephyrs, after Prud'hon," a delicate engraving at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It feels like a half-remembered dream, so pale and ethereal. Like something emerging from mist. Curator: The myth of Psyche often represents the soul's journey through love and suffering toward immortality. The Zephyrs, gentle west winds, are carrying her to a new stage. Editor: There's a lovely tension between the fragility of the figure and the implied power of the winds. It’s a moment of surrender, maybe? Curator: Certainly. The image speaks to transformation, a surrender of the old self to embrace a new, perhaps daunting, future. Editor: It makes you wonder what awaits her. Is it liberation, or just another gilded cage?