Psyche Revived By Cupid’s Kiss

In the years 1787 through 1793 while living in Rome, Antonio Canova, an Italian and Neo-Classical sculptor, created the first version of his marble sculpture, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, which is now on display in the Louvre museum. It was commissioned by Colonel John Campbell, a British politician and art collector, when Canova was receiving much praise for his work and was sculpting pieces rapidly.

 While viewing this remarkable sculpture in person, I wrote the following: Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss is quite a beautiful sculpture. I love the curves. They’re so graceful and they make me think of circles, symbolizing eternity and resurrection. The story of Cupid and Psyche is one of hope. Literally, the end is the resurrection of the soul.

See, it's a circle!

An interesting question is the significance of the jar and the arrow behind her. Obviously, the jar is the flask she was bidden to get from Persephone in the Underworld and later opened out of curiosity. The fumes killed her, so Cupid brought her back to life by pricking her with an arrow. But the arrow could also reference the beginning of the story, when Cupid had to make her fall in love with someone ugly. He fell in love with her himself, so he would have dropped the arrow he intended to pierce her with. And the flask could very well be full of oil that she would have used to light an oil lamp to see him, another moment when her curiosity was fateful. Lindsey [one of my friends on the tour] made a comment on the oil being behind her—the doubt is now behind her. They will start anew, despite the mistakes of the past.

As two side notes, both the jar and Cupid's wings were carved and attached to the main sculpture, and the handle on the side is for transportation. Not used to seeing a sculpture with a handle, but you've got to do what you've got to do (trust me, I'm used to carting around heavy and valuable objects--harps).