Psyché montrant à ses sœurs les présents de Cupidon

Fragonard was 21 when he painted this in 1753, still a student, and it was made to be shown to the king. Academy pupils prepared works to present to Louis XV at Versailles, and this was his. The story is the old tale of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche, in white, welcomes her two sisters into Cupid's palace and shows off the gifts her hidden lover has given her, and their envy will soon wreck her happiness. You can see the jealousy written into it. One sister wears a sharp lemon-yellow dress, and above the group floats a figure clutching snakes, the personification of Envy. The pale gold and orange throughout is already Fragonard pulling away from the softer rose and blue of his teacher Boucher.