Cupid and Psyche

The Roman writer Apuleius told the full story of Cupid and Psyche in the 2nd century AD, in his novel The Golden Ass. Psyche, a mortal girl whose name is the Greek word for soul, is loved by the god of love, loses him through her own curiosity and wins him back after trials set by his mother Venus, until the gods make her immortal and the two are married.

The pair in this marble are older than that novel. The museum dates the Greek original of the group to the 3rd century BC, in the Hellenistic age, when artists liked to show Eros as a boy and love in all its moods. Here the two are young and wholly absorbed in each other, caught in a kiss. Cupid is naked, and Psyche's tunic has slipped down to her hips.

This Roman copy came to light on the Aventine hill in February 1749 and entered the Capitoline the same year.