Cupid and Psyche. Ca 1791 – 1793. Marble

The hot drops of oil from Psyche’s lamp that fall on Cupid’s skin awaken the god of love. Distressed at being exposed, and deaf to the maiden’s pitiful pleas, Cupid runs off.
The unhappy girl turns to Cupid’s mother Venus and offers to serve the goddess. Venus gives Psyche several seemingly impossible tasks, which the maiden completes with the help of plants and animals. Finally, Cupid and Psyche reconcile, and Jupiter, the father of all the gods, declares them man and wife.

Johann Tobias Sergel’s work conforms to the requirements of neoclassicism formulated by the art theoretician Johann Joachim Winckelmann that drew inspiration from classical art. “Noble simplicity and calm greatness” are characteristic of the sculptural group.

Paolo Triscorni (1757–1833) was an Italian sculptor who worked in St. Petersburg between 1791 and 1793, where he also fulfilled commissions from local Baltic Germans.
Johan Tobias Sergel (1740–1814), who created the original sculptural group, worked in Stockholm and was the first professional Swedish sculptor, and one of the principal representatives of Nordic neoclassicism.