Anna Lea Merritt
American, 1844 - 1930
Love Locked Out
Date: 1889
Merritt described this painting as 'a monument to my husband. In my thought the closed door is the door of the tomb…I feared people liked it as the symbol of forbidden love, while my love was waiting for the door of death to open and the reunion of the lonely pair'.
Both Cupid and Venus are frequently seen with either a torch or vase holding the sacred flame of love. Here, however, it lies on the ground, its flames extinguished, next to the arrow of Cupid.
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