Often mischievously shown meddling in the affairs of the heart, Cupid has long been portrayed in painting, sculpture and graphic arts. From the Italian Renaissance to 19th-century American art to contemporary greeting cards, Cupid has endured as a symbol of romantic love.

Cupid Stringing His Bow (left) by William Henry Rinehart is a marble sculpture of classical design. Born in 1825 near Union Bridge, Maryland, Rinehart came from a farming family and apprenticed with a local stone-cutter before traveling to Rome to study in 1855. Commissioned by the Johnston family, Rinehart created sculptures of the two sons, Henry Elliott Jr. and James, with each posing as Cupid. 

Comparatively, Edmonia Lewis's Poor Cupid (right), or Love Ensnared, carved just a few years later, depicts a more fictionalized Cupid with child-like proportions and a more masculine face. Here Cupid is caught in a trap while picking a rose, the eternal symbol of love and beauty. Poor Cupid is playful in name and tone and caters to maudlin sensitivities while Cupid Stringing His Bow is pensive in its purity.