Follower of Antonio Canova

Follower of ANTONIO CANOVA (Italy, 1757 - 1822). ; Italy, end of XIX century.
"Eros and Psyche".
Carved alabaster.
Measurements: 29 x 34 x 13 cm.
Sculpture realized in alabaster that follows the model of the famous work in marble of Antonio Canova. "Psyche revived by the kiss of Eros", realized between 1787 and 1793 and nowadays conserved in the Louvre Museum.
The story of Eros and Psyche was narrated by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass): Psyche was the youngest and most beautiful of three sisters, daughters of a king of Anatolia. Aphrodite, jealous of her beauty, sent her son Cupid to shoot her with an arrow that would make her fall in love with the most horrible man she could find. However, Cupid fell in love with her and threw the arrow into the sea; when Psyche fell asleep, he flew her to his palace. The myth of Psyche, heavily influenced by mystical religions, symbolizes the overcoming of trials and sufferings of the human soul to achieve immortality. In classical mythology, Cupid fell in love with the beautiful young woman and married her, keeping her identity a secret. She, on the advice of her sisters, tried to discover the secret, awakening the god, who fled. Enamored, she sought him out and, after passing a series of tests imposed by the mother of the God of Love, Venus, she was reunited with him.