Details

LOT 2082

Marble Statue of Psyche and Cupid after Antonio Canova on a Marble Pedestal

LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY A.D.

65 3/8 in. (122 kg total, 166 cm).

Depicting Cupid tenderly holding Psyche in his arms after a kiss, Psyche's arms reaching towards his head; Cupid in a dynamic pose with separately made wings, depicted nude except for a vine-leaf; Psyche resting on a rock with her lower body loosely wrapped in a folded garment; inscription on the lower edge 'P. Bazzanti Florence'; mounted on a marble pedestal.




It is regarded as a masterpiece of Neoclassical sculpture, but shows the mythological lovers at a moment of great emotion, characteristic of the emerging movement of Romanticism.

Or alabaster [No Reserve]

Provenance

Private collection, London.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13005-246436.

Footnotes

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss is a sculpture by Italian artist Antonio Canova first commissioned in 1787 by Colonel John Campbell (later Lord Cawdor). It is one of Canova's most popular marbles which represents a well known passage from Apuleius' The Golden Ass, in which Psyche faints after having opened Proserpine's vase and is revived by Cupid's kiss. The original sculpture is today in the Musée du Louvre (M.R. 1777). In 1796 the Russian nobleman Prince Yusupov acquired a second version from Canova in Rome, and that example is today preserved in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.