Cupid and Psyche
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1850 - 1900
Materials
Alabaster
Measurements
100 mm (H)165 mm (W)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1231042
Summary
Alabaster; Cupid and Pysche; after Antonio Canova (1757-1822); c. 1850-1900. A small copy after one of the most celebrated works of the neo-classical sculptor Antonio Canova, his Cupid and Pysche, now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Full description
A small sculpture in alabaster of Cupid and Pysche, after Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The naked figure of Cupid leans over the reclining half-draped figure of Pysche and their arms enlace in an embrace. An integral half-oval base, with drapery on the ground. Damage to the edge of the base at front. Cupid’s separately-made wings are missing, but the metal sprues to which they would have been fixed remain in Cupid's back. Originally told by the Roman writer Apuleius, the story of the love affair between the beautiful maiden Pysche and Cupid, the god of love, is one of the most celebrated romantic tales. The two lovers would meet in Cupid’s palace but only in darkness, until one night when, curious to see the appearance of her lover as he slept, Psyche brought an oil lamp close to him, accidentally spilling onto him a drop of hot oil. Cupid and his palace vanished and the forlorn Psyche then underwent a long series of trials, until the lovers were reunited in heaven. The sculpture by Antonio Canova of which this is a copy is one of the neo-classical sculptor’s most celebrated works. It was commissioned by Canova’s important British patron Colonel John Campbell, for whom Canova also made the version of Canova’s Amorino now at Anglesey Abbey (NT 516599). Completed in 1793, the Cupid and Pysche could not be transported to Britain because of the European wars, eventually entering the Musée du Louvre, where it is today one of the most famous and popular works in the collection. The tiny copy at Cragside of Canova’s masterpiece is a crude product made for the tourist trade. It is one of a number of similar small alabaster sculptures in the collection. They may have been made in Florence or in Rome or, perhaps, in the Tuscan city of Volterra which, then as now, was the centre of the alabaster sculpture industry in Italy. Jeremy Warren March 2022
Provenance
Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 - 1987).
Makers and roles
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822), sculptor