ABSTRACT
The image of Blind Cupid—or 'mythographical Cupid' as we might call him to distinguish him from 'poetic Love'—developed in different fashions according to historical conditions. German art, possibly owing to the fact that the words 'Liebe' and 'Minne are both of feminine gender, shows a strong tendency to personify Blind Cupid by a nude female figure. The Renaissance spokesmen of Neoplatomc theories refuted the belief that Love was blind as emphatically as the mediaeval champions of poetic Love, and used the figure of Blind Cupid as a contrast to set off their own exalted conception. Occasionally the victorious adversary of Blind Cupid is explicitly identified with Platonic Love, as in an engraving where Amor Platonicits drives away his blindfold foe by brandishing two torches. Blind Cupid started his career in rather terrifying company: he belonged to Night, Synagogue, Infidelity, Death and Fortune who had also joined the group of blindfold personifications.
