Ah, romance and love are in the heavens--ya right

Cupid and Psyche
François Gérard
1798

Cupid and Psyche
Benjamin West
1808

Martian Surface

The Rosette Nebula

The Heart Nebula

The story of Cupid (or Eros) and Psyche is one of the most romantic from mythology. The myth tells of a girl so beautiful that men began to abandon the temples of Venus to worship her, sending the goddess into a rage. She sent her son to Psyche in order to destroy the girl by having her fall in love with a monster, not knowing he would fall in love with her himself. He took the girl to his palace as his wife, only visiting her at night and never allowing her to see him. When poor Psyche's jealous sisters poisoned her mind with horrors about her husband she glanced upon his sleeping form with the help of an oil lamp which promptly dripped and wounded him, causing him to abandon her, for 'there can be no love where there is no trust.' She then was forced to go through a series of impossible tasks by Venus in order to reunite with her husband. It was the final task which Psyche failed; falling into an eternal sleep after peeking at a box of Queen Proserpine's beauty. By then, Cupid had forgiven his wife and flew down to rescue her and carry her to Olympus to make their marriage official.

Cupid

Valentine's Day...on the cheap