The one between Cupid and Psyche is one of the most beautiful love legends ever. It was written by the Latin writer Apuleius in his ” Metamorphoses ” in the second century AD. Metaphor of the eternal battle between rationality and instinct, between heart and brain, the legend tells the story of the God Love (Cupid) and the beautiful Psyche. Cupid and Psyche, the legend of
Cupid and Psyche and a timeless story. A legend that always lives and that gives unique emotions. There were a king and a queen in a city. These had three beautiful daughters. But the two largest, although very graceful in appearance, it was also possible to celebrate them worthily with human words; while the child’s splendid beauty could not be described, and there were no words to adequately praise her.
Thus begins the legend that tells the story of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche was beautiful, her grace and her splendor were such as to attract the envy of Venus (Goddess of beauty) who, to take revenge on her, decided to ask her son Love (Cupid) for help. The envious goddess asked her son to strike Psyche with one of her infallible arrows and make her fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. Love I accept but, once he arrived in front of the girl, he was so enchanted by her beauty that he was distracted to the point that one of her arrows hit him, making him fall madly in love with the splendid girl. Cupid and Psyche, the love story
Cupid and Psyche and a great love story. To experience her “mortal” love, the God, secretly from his mother, I take Psyche to her palace without revealing her identity. Every evening, when the sun went down, Amore went to the girl and, without ever showing her his face, the two lived intense moments of passion. The young princess had accepted the compromise but, you know, curiosity is a woman and one night, while Cupid was sleeping, Psyche approached her face with a lamp, being struck by the beauty of her lover. While she was admiring the profile of Love, however, a drop of oil from the lamp accidentally fell on the young man who, awakened, ran away abandoning the girl. Cupid and Psyche, the tests
Cupid and psyche and a story that gives a happy ending. When Venus learned of the incident, she unleashed her wrath on Psyche who, as a punishment, she was subjected to difficult tests by the Goddess. The princess brilliantly passed the tests, also thanks to the help of various divine beings, and this infuriated Venus even more, who put her one last test: to descend into the underworld and ask the goddess Prosepina a little about her beauty. As ordered by the Goddess, Psyche goes to the underworld but, this time, fail. Cupid and Psyche, the happy ending
Although she had been ordered not to open the cruet given to her by Prosepina, the girl, intrigued, opened the cruet from which a cloud emerged that made Psyche fall into a very deep sleep. Meanwhile, Love, taken by nostalgia, went in search of her loved one and, when I find her, I wake her up. In order not to risk losing her again, Amor took Psyche to Olympus where, thanks to the support and help of Jupiter, the young princess, after drinking ambrosia, became a goddess. The legend ends with the marriage of the two lovers and the birth of a beautiful little girl who took the name of Volutta. Cupid and Psyche, the sculptural group
The legend of “Cupid and Psyche” inspired Antonio Canova, author of the sculptural group of the same name created between 1787 and 1793 and kept at the Louvre museum in Paris. A second copy, made by the hand of Canova himself, is on display at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in Russia. Inspired by the iconography of a fresco from Herculaneum depicting a bacchant embraced by a faun, Canova began the design of the “large model” of the work on the afternoon of May 30, 1787. The translation into marble was already started in May 1788, as attested by his friend Quatremere de Quincy; the marble group as we know it today was completed only in 1793. Cupid and Psyche, a work of worldwide success
Cupid and Psyche was a very successful work already during the years of production and contributed to increase the fame of Canova. Many artists, travelers and scholars visited the artist’s atelier when he was still working on the work. The Russian prince Yusopov arrived in Rome in 1794, on behalf of the Empress Catherine II of Russia who wanted Canova to serve her court. The artist refused to put himself at the service of the Empress but agreed to make the second version of Love and Psyche on commission from Yusopov, now on display at the St. Petersburg egrmitage. Cupid and Psyche, a work that has inspired several artists
Cupid and Psyche has been a source of inspiration for artists throughout the ages, especially the Renaissance. Among these Giulio Romano, whose fresco is located in the room of Cupid and Psyche at the Museum of Palazzo Te in Mantua and the frescoes for the loggia of Villa Farnesina in Rome made by Raphael. Among the major testimonies of the 1800s are the paintings Cupid and Psyche (1889) and The abduction of Psyche (1895) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Poetry also pays homage to Canova’s work. Ode to Psyche written by the poet John Keats .

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