NEW YORK, NY.- This spring, Sotheby’s will bring to the market a superb work by iconic French Academic painter William Bouguereau. “L’Amour et Psyché”, dated 1899, is estimated at $1.8/2.2 million and will be featured in the 23 April sale of 19th Century European Art. Sold from a Distinguished Private Collection, the painting has been off the market for almost half a century. Its last known public exhibition was at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900. Throughout his career, Bouguereau repeatedly interpreted the subject of Love – drawing inspiration from key figures in Greek mythology such as Cupid, Venus, and Psyché. While many of Bouguereau’s compositions featuring this subject depict an adult maiden surrounded by cherubic putti; a child Cupid taunting a more mature Venus; or both Cupid and Psyché as children, L’Amour et Psyché shows the mythological lovers Cupid and Psyché as young adults, one of