Where Is Cupid and Psyche? See It at This Museum

Antonio Canova carved Cupid and Psyche between 1787 and 1793. The marble captures the moment Cupid revives Psyche with a kiss after she's fallen into a death-like sleep from opening Proserpina's box. He leans over her, wings spread, one hand cradling her head.

The composition forms an X-shape when viewed from the side: the intersecting diagonals of their bodies create tension and grace. Canova's polished marble and idealized forms made it a landmark work of Neoclassicism. The original is at the Louvre in Paris. A second version, with slight differences, is at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

At the Musée du Louvre in Paris. It entered the collection in 1824 after a complicated ownership history. Commissioned in 1787 by Colonel John Campbell, then acquired by Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat, King of Naples.

The exact moment Cupid revives Psyche with a kiss after she opens the forbidden box from Proserpina and falls into a deathlike sleep. The almost-touching lips at the center of the composition create one of the most tender moments in all of sculpture.

Canova designed the two bodies to form an X shape when viewed from the side, drawing the eye to the near-kiss at the center. The marble is polished to an extraordinary smoothness that mimics living skin. It's considered a Neoclassical work with Romantic emotional intensity.

It measures 155 x 168 x 101 cm (about 5 feet tall by 5.5 feet long). Canova carved it between 1788 and 1793 from white marble. It's one of the most reproduced sculptures in the world.

Cupid and Psyche

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More by Antonio Canova

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The Three Graces

Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)

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Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Bust of Paris

Head of Medusa

The Rape of Proserpina

Apollo and Daphne

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