The Cup of Love

Elihu Vedder

1887 · Oil on wood · The American Wing

Vedder based this painting on one of his illustrations for an 1884 edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, a poem about life’s mysteries. A critic described the picture’s narrative as follows: “On a sculptured sarcophagus, in which lies buried the Past, sits a handsome brown youth. . . . To him comes the woman in fine figure, with a mass of auburn hair, whose back is alone visible. . . . At the right, Dan Cupid looks on, approving.”

Artist

Elihu Vedder

Date

1887

Medium

Oil on wood

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Harold G. Henderson, 1976