This painting is the fifth in a set of twelve in the Royal Collection depicting part of the story of Cupid and Psyche. The subject of this series comes from The Metamorphoses or Golden Ass by the second-century AD writer Apuleius: it is one of the stories that intersperse the main narrative of Lucius on his travels (Book IV, para. 28 - Book VI, para. 24). The tale of the many travails endured by ill-matched lovers (one mortal and one divine) before their final happy marriage, it was interpreted in the Renaissance as a Neoplatonic allegory of the progress of the soul (Psyche means ‘soul’ in Greek) towards salvation through Divine Love. The outcome of their union is Pleasure. This scene shows Psyche bathing on the left, with the help of attendants, while two invisible attendants bring her a table of food in the centre. Musicians play in the right foreground and upper right, while Cupid directs operations from the upper left. Cupid is shown as an unseen presence rather than embracing Psyche, so that she dines in isolation; the idea of a magical banquet is suggested by the table borne through the air by ethereal servants. The only known preparatory drawing for Giordano’s series is for this scene, a chalk and wash sheet in the Library of the Royal Palace, Madrid. The most important variation from the drawing is the turning of the listening Cupid towards the viewer in a more elegant pose and the simplification of the composition by the elimination of two attendants on either side of the Psyche’s throne. Catalogue entry adapted from The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque, London, 2007