One of the last works in van Dyck's oeuvre, it shows a marked influence of
Titian and dates from his time as a court artist to
Charles I of England. It is his sole surviving mythological painting from that period and possibly comes from a series of paintings on the
Cupid and Psyche theme ordered for the
Queen's House at Greenwich; other artists involved in the series included
Jacob Jordaens and van Dyck's old tutor
Peter Paul Rubens. That project was never completed, which is one possible explanation for why the painting has no frame and is relatively unfinished. This would date it to 1638–1640. A second alternative is that it was produced for the celebrations of
Princess Mary's marriage to
William II of Orange in 1641. The figure of Psyche may have been based on van Dyck's mistress
Margaret Lemon.[1]