Love Locked Out is an oil painting by Anna Lea Merritt first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and which became the first painting by a woman artist acquired for the British national collection through the Chantrey Bequest.

Merritt's first painting of a nude model, Eve Overcome with Remorse, had met with unfavourable reviews after winning a medal at the Royal Academy in 1885.

[1] But this painting, which was created as a memorial to her husband, was received favourably, though it again featured a nude model - and this time the model was male, a controversial subject for women artists at that time.

[1] Merritt escaped censure by choosing a child to portray Cupid, rather than an adult, such as her Eve had been.

Clara Erskine Clement, an American author noted that ".. this honor has been accorded to few women, and of these I think Mrs. Merritt was first.