This is a finished trial composition of the painting Cupid and Psyche 14 ½ x 16 ¼ inches (in which Psyche, winged, fair-haired, with a wreath of flowers around her neck is reclining in the clouds; in front of her Cupid, winged and nude is seated embracing her). It was exhibited at the British Institute in 1821 and is now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Another sketch for our composition exists and is in a private collection in the USA.
Colnaghi 1877, sold to Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, his sale Christie, Manson & Woods January 28th 1911 Alfred Earl from 1911
Alexander Gilchrist, William Etty RA, David Bogue, London 1855, two volumes, vol I page 95, vol II page 336 Denis Farr, William Etty, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1958, pages 143 and 199