Meet Cupid and Psyche

Adamo Tadolini was one of the best students of Antonio Canova in the early 1810s. The marble group Cupid and Psyche, hosted in Villa Carlotta, was carved by him in 1819, drawn from the original model by the Possagno master.

It represents one of the most famous embraces in the history of art.

The myth of Cupid and Psyche, written by Apuleius in the Metamorphoses, is the story of two lovers prevented from reaching happiness by Venus, Cupid’s jealous mother. Willing to do anything to have her lover back, Psyche faces a series of trials, the last of which leads her to the underworld in search of a box whose evil contents leads her to her death, hence, the intervention of Cupid who brings her back to life with a kiss.

Today there are only two original Cupid and Psyche by Antonio Canova: the first one is in the Louvre, made in 1787 at the request of the English Colonel John Campbell, while the second is on exhibit at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg and it was commissioned by the Russian Prince Yussupoff in 1796.

The replica of Villa Carlotta is supposed to be made after the Canova’ statue displayed in the Hermitage.

Made from a block of Carrara marble of exceptional beauty, this sculpture arrived at Tremezzo in 1834.

Count Sommariva in person, then owner of Villa Carlotta, had wanted Tadolini to work on the themes of sensuality and passion.

The original plaster is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.