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“Eros is man's conversion from the sensible to the
super-sensible; it is the upward movement of the soul; it is a
real force, driving the soul upwards to seek the world of forms.”
(Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros, New York: Macmillan,
1937, I:127)
In the ancient Greek pantheon of deities, Eros (Cupid) is the son
of Penia (need) and Poros (initiative). Poros is imbued with
the virtues of beauty, goodness and courage, but also with impetuousness
and cunning. Their union results in Eros, the rash god of love
who lies midway between morality and immorality, the carnal and
the spiritual, wisdom and ignorance, mortality and divinity.
Eros provided the ancient Greeks with a way of speaking about
the human experience of division and longing, the desire that
propels men and women alike to seek love and love's gifts:
wisdom and beauty.
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Amor Carving His Bow
1533–1534.
Francesco Mazzola Parmigianino. Oil on limewood. Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Gemäldegalerie,
Vienna:
613, Inv. 275.
135 x 65.3 cm.
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