First Sight

“The very first moment I beheld him, 

my heart was irrevocably gone.” 


― Jane Austen, Love and Friendship

 

Antonio CANOVA (1757 – 1822)
Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss
Marble - H. 1.55 m; L. 1.68 m; D. 1.01 m
MR 1777
Paris, Musée du Louvre
© 2010 Musée du Louvre / Raphaël Chipault
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 "This winged young man who has just landed on a rock where a girl lies unconscious, is the god Eros – Cupid in Latin – and can be recognized by his wings and his quiver filled with arrows. The girl’s name is Psyche. Cupid’s mother Venus, goddess of Beauty, demanded that Psyche bring back a flask from the Underworld, strictly forbidding her to open it.

But Psyche’s curiosity got the better of her; and no sooner had she had breathed in the terrible fumes than she fell into a deep, deathlike sleep. Seeing her lying motionless, Cupid rushed to her and touched her gently with the tip of his arrow, to make sure she was not dead. This is the moment caught by the sculptor: Cupid lifts his beloved Psyche in a tender embrace, his face close to hers. Psyche lets herself sink slowly backwards, languorously taking her lover’s head between her hands." - Information taken from http://musee.louvre.fr/oal/psyche/psyche_acc_en.html