What sculpture by Antonio Canova in the Louvre depicts Cupid reviving Psyche?
Answer
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss
The sculpture by Antonio Canova in the Louvre depicting Cupid reviving Psyche is Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.
Canova made the marble group between 1787 and 1793, during the rise of Neoclassicism. It captures the instant after Cupid awakens the apparently lifeless Psyche, creating an unusually intimate composition of intertwined bodies, outstretched arms, and delicate wings.
The subject comes from Lucius Apuleius's ancient Latin narrative The Golden Ass. Psyche has opened a vessel associated with divine beauty and fallen into a deathlike sleep; Cupid restores her. The jar and arrow placed near the figures point to that story.
A common mix-up is that Canova produced two full-scale versions. The Louvre's sculpture is the first version, while the second is held by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The work is Neoclassical in technique but anticipates Romanticism in its emotional intensity.