Cupid's Forge 1861

Edward Burne-Jones created *Cupid’s Forge* using watercolor and gouache on paper, and it draws from the artistic movement of Pre-Raphaelitism. The piece reflects the late 19th century's fascination with classical mythology, filtered through a lens of romanticism and aestheticism. Burne-Jones presents us with a gendered and somewhat eroticized vision of labor. We see Cupid's mother, Venus, overseeing the production of arrows, instruments of both love and pain. One cupid is depicted kneeling and testing the sharpness of an arrow. The aesthetic movement embraced beauty as its core principle, and here, beauty is intertwined with power, desire, and the potential for emotional wounding. While the subject matter is classical, Burne-Jones' style—the delicate figures, the emphasis on surface decoration, the dreamy atmosphere—was contemporary to the painting’s making. This piece offers a space to explore themes of love, desire, and the complex interplay between beauty and pain. It encourages us to consider the narratives we construct around relationships and the power dynamics inherent within them.