Where Is Cupid and Psyche? See It at This Museum

Q: Where can I see Cupid and Psyche?

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.

Q: What moment does it capture?

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.

Q: What makes the composition special?

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.

Q: How big is it?

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.

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

Details

The Artist

More by Antonio Canova

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The Three Graces

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About Cupid and Psyche

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