"Putto's Kiss" is a painting of a putto (male child with white
wings) kissing Psyche (female child with brown butterfly wings).
Both are beings from Greek mythology.
The painting, "Putto's Kiss" is an illustration associated with
the novel, "The Golden Ass" written two thousand years ago.
Puttoes are not angels. Angels are associated with Jewish
biblical mythology whereas puttoes are a race of beings from Greek
mythology, the most famous one being Eros. Eros is the god of love
and desire. Our word, "erotica" comes from Eros. The Roman
counterpart of Eros is Cupid. Psyche is the goddess of the soul. In
ancient times, they were both worshiped as gods.The painting would
be less confusing if it had been named, "Eros Kissing Psyche", or
better still, "Cupid Kissing Psyche".
"Putto's Kiss" is a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau who
was E.M. Munier's teacher. The painting is often incorrectly
attributed to Munier due to an error by an art student who made a
list of paintings and their artist and posted his incorrect list on
the WEB a long time ago. This error is so entrenched that it can
never be corrected.
The painting of Putto's kiss is ubiquitous, appearing on coffee
cups, umbrellas, and framed pictures for the house. All of these
are truncated versions. The original painting shows Cupid and
Psyche full length in the nude. Current culture in America
precludes the full version for general use.
