The painting represents the marriage of Cupid, the son of Venus, with the mortal Psyche, in the presence of Juno, Jupiter, Mars, and other gods of Olympus as narrated by Apuleius in The Golden Ass. Originally an octagon (the four corners are additions), it was the central panel of a ceiling with scenes from the legend of Psyche painted by Schiavone in about 1550 for the Castello di Salvatore di Collalto, in the hills to the north of Venice. Schiavone’s fluid and painterly style and the exaggerated proportions of his figures were inspired by Parmigianino and were in turn important to a younger generation of painters such as Tintoretto.