The fourth panel. Kind Providence helps Psyche to carry out all the tasks Venus sets her. The last and most difficult is to descend to the underworld and ask for a little of the beauty of Proserpine, the goddess of the kingdom of the dead. Psyche succeeds in this request, but on the return journey her curiosity leads her to open the box intended for Venus and she falls victim to the deep sleep that bursts out from it. Cupid rushes to Psyche’s aid and frees her.

The artist began making sketches for The Story of Psyche in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and continued the work in Italy where the series was embellished with Italian landscapes. The sketches for the first, second and fifth panels reflect the surroundings of Lake Maggiore, that of the fourth - the Giusti Gardens in Verona. The worked-out sketches were transferred up to large canvases by the summer of 1908. After being exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, all five of the main panels were despatched to Moscow where they were placed on stretchers and attached to the walls in December 1908.