Early 20th Century Cupid and Psyche Alabaster Stone Sculpture After Antonio Canova

Details

Description

This beautiful Neoclassical sculpture is done after the original Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Canova. The softness and intricacy … Read more This beautiful Neoclassical sculpture is done after the original Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Canova. The softness and intricacy the sculptor was able to do with stone is remarkable. Showing both of the lover's faces with such captivating emotion and the movement in their bodies shows the desperation and happiness they hold in the moment Cupid awakens Psyche with a kiss. This deep emotion shows the emergence of the romanticism era.
Made from a light honey / cream colored alabaster with a few grey veins depicting the suppleness of the bodies and a more raw form in the rock they are on top of. Cupid's wings are removable to make it safe for transport/ shipping and comes with a large heavy detached green stone base (I was told it's marble but it looks like serpentine stone to me). Etched on the base is the title of the work 'Cupid and Psyche' . On the sculpture itself the artist put their name- Ella V. Richie. Possibly a Grand Tour version (1800s).


Approximate measurements: 20"W x 10.5"D x 19"H (with the base and wings)

It can come off the base and there are no fasteners but its quite heavy (statue ~ 26lbs) so it does not move easily when it's set on the base. They left both the bottom of the sculpture and top of the base rough to make it have a slight grip to it. The wings have a flat metal 'pin/ prong' on each wing that fit into recessed metal slots in Cupids back.

The myth and history behind the sculpture:
The love affair between Cupid and Psyche is one of the best known classical myths, from the Latin novel The Golden Ass by Apuleius. Many Neoclassical paintings and sculptures derived inspiration from the story. Cupid/ Eros, lover of the mortal princess Psyche/ Soul, forbids her to see his face and visits her only at night. Disobeying him, Psyche holds a light over his sleeping body, for which she is punished by Venus/ Aphrodite. This is after Antonio Canova's ' Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss '

Canova made two slightly different versions of this composition. The original Cupid and Psyche, commissioned in 1787 by Scottish patron John Campbell while on his Grand Tour, was completed in 1793. It was later acquired by Napoleon's brother-in-law and is now in the Louvre (Paris). The full-scale model was prepared for Canova's slightly different second version (showing Psyche with butterfly wings) made for Prince Nicolas Youssoupov and now in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It was inherited by Canova's assistant, Adamo Tadolini (1788–1868), who used it to replicate additional versions. The metal pins distributed over the surface were inserted to assist the sculptor in transferring the complex group's precise form from plaster to the marble block out of which the final sculpture would be carved, by means of the pointing system. See less