Abstract: The paradox of pure love is expressed in mythical “configurations” rather than in conceptual schemata. The Peintures morales of Father Le Moyne, with their multiple definitions of love and especially with their Érotie, their “Island of Purity,” their Edenic reverie, and their galleries of tragic examples, offer an original contribution to the profane and sacred testing ground where, throughout the seventeenth century, the idea of pure love was forged and scrutinized.
