Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, first commissioned in 1787, exemplifies the Neoclassical devotion to love and emotion. It represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss, a scene excerpted from Lucius Apuleius' The Golden Ass. A masterpiece of its period, it appeals to the senses of sight and touch, yet simultaneously alludes to the Romantic interest in emotion co-existing with Neoclassicism.

Joachim Murat donated the first version (pictured) to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France in 1824^[1]; Prince Yusupov, a Russian nobleman who acquired the piece in Rome in 1796, gave a later version (created in 1796) to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg^[2]. The plaster cast for this later version is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York^[3].

Notes

1. ^ Monaghan, Sean M.; Rodgers, Michael (1998-07-17). "French Sculpture 1800-1825, Canova". http://gallery.sjsu.edu/paris/the_academy/canova.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
2. ^ The State Hermitage Museum: Collection Highlights, 2006, http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_3_3_1c.html, retrieved 2007-12-28 
3. ^ Antonio Canova: Plaster Model for Cupid and Psyche, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/neoc_1/hod_05.46.htm, retrieved 2008-02-11 

External links

• Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Psyche_revived_by_the_kiss_of_Love Psyche revived by the kiss of Love] at Wikimedia Commons
• Louvre
• Hermitage Museum
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Historical background