Valentine Engagement by Sassydeb on FreakingNews. Click for full image.

The commercialization of Saint Valentine’s Day (14 February) may be fairly recent, but the holiday has been around since the 19th century, mostly in the USA and Britain. It’s unlikely William Bouguereau celebrated Saint Valentine, but his modern-day followers have linked the French master with the Christian saint several times.

Shown above is Valentine Engagement by digital artist Sassydeb, created for a Valentine Paintings photoshop contest on FreakingNews in 2007. The work was inspired by Bouguereau’s famous 1895 painting Le Ravissement de Psyche (The Rapture of Psyche). Sassydeb flipped the original picture so the ring would be on Psyche’s correct hand.

Below are four Valentine-inspired images from Bouguereau Remastered. Click each to visit the galleries where you will find many more contemporary versions of the original paintings.