Inspired by Joshua Reynolds, Cupid and Psyche, c.1789.

We chose Cupid and Psyche (1789) by Sir Joshua Reynolds because it raised the question: ‘What happens next?’ We were also interested in the way in which Sir Joshua’s sharp contrasts in lighting created a sense of tension in the scene. During our research, we were surprised to discover that the artist chose to paint the composition in a seventeenth-century Italian style rather than the contemporary eighteenth-century British style. The most inspiring aspect of our research was the fact that Sir Joshua decided to emphasise narrative, depicting the ‘decisive moment’ of the Cupid and Psyche myth – Psyche’s first glimpse of her husband, Cupid, by candle light. Our animation also focused on this ‘decisive moment,’ and we implemented the silhouette and light box techniques to create a mysterious mood in the scene. We also added joints to the characters to increase their range of movements.