The young man with wings and his quiver filled with arrows is Eros, the son of Venus, who is also known as Cupid. The girl is Psyche, a princess, whom people used to adore and worship instead of Venus, for her unearthly beauty. At this, Venus became jealous at this and she sent her son Cupid (Eros) to use his arrows of desire to ensure Psyche fall in love with the ugliest creature in the world. However, Cupid was so much distracted by the angelic beauty of the princes, that instead of using his arrow, he unmindfully scratched himself with it and fell deeply in love with Psyche.

To make a long story short, the lovers were united, but after an unfortunate incident, Cupid flew away from the window, leaving Psyche all alone in her lonely palace. For days together Psyche travelled a lot to find her lost love, till she was advised by Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, to surrender to Venus and beg to be excused. She acted accordingly and after so many tough tasks, Venus finally ordered Psyche to go to the Underworld and bring for her a flask containing a dose of beauty from Proserpina, the queen of the underworld. She was also instructed by Venus not to open the lid of the container, in any way, on her way back. However, out of curiosity, she opened the lid of the flask and as she breathed in the terrible fumes coming out from the flask, she fell into a deep, deathlike sleep. Seeing her lying motionless, Cupid rushed to her and lifted the face of his beloved in a tender embrace, as he gently holds her by supporting her head and breast, his face close to hers. Psyche allowed herself to sink slowly backwards, languorously taking her lover’s head between her hands.

However, that was not the end of the story, but that romantic moment was immortalized by Antonio Canova in his sculpture ‘Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss’.

For detailed story of Cupid and Psyche, interested persons are free to visit - Cupid Psyche Passionate Paintings

Based on the mythological story, ‘Cupid and Psyche’ written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis, Italian sculptor Antonio Canova created his grand piece of art, which is regarded as a masterpiece of neoclassical sculpture that shows the mythological lovers at a moment of great emotion.

The magnificent piece of art, ‘Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss’, was sculptured by the master twice. Joachim Murat, the King of Naples (1808-1815) acquired the first or the original version in 1800 and after his death the statue entered the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1824.The second version was acquired by Prince Yusupov, a Russian nobleman, in 1796 from Casanova in Rome, which was later entered the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.