Psiche svenuta (Psyche fainting)

Apuleius' novel "Metamorphoses" tells the tale of the beautiful Psyche, the subject of this statue, a victim of Venus's jealousy and loved by the goddess' son, Cupid. One of the labors imposed on Psyche by Venus is a journey to the underworld. Once back, the girl opens a box that the goddess had her believe contained the essence of beauty. Inside, in fact, Psyche only finds "an infernall and deadly sleepe, which made her faint into deep sleep immediately. That is the moment that the Tuscan sculptor Pietro Tenerani (1789-1869) depicts in this beautiful sculpture. He studied in Bertel Thorvaldsen's studio and was part of the Italian purist movement, so he represented this story delicately and often.