About the Artwork
The story of Cupid and Psyche first appeared in the Metamorphoses written by the Roman author Apuleius in the second century. This bronze depicts the dramatic moment when Psyche, encouraged by her jealous sisters, holds an oil lamp over the waking Cupid and discovers his true identity. Foggini, the official sculptor and architect of the Medici court, interpreted the scene in a high baroque style, characterized by dynamic rhythms and theatrical gestures.
Cupid and Psyche
ca. between 1710 and 1720
Giovanni Battista Foggini
1652-1725
Italian
Unknown
Bronze with brown patina and red-gold lacquer
Overall: 13 3/8 × 14 5/8 × 9 1/4 inches (34 × 37.1 × 23.5 cm)
Sculpture
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
81.695
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
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Provenance
(Cyril Humphris Gallery, London, England)
May 27, 1980, sold by (Sotheby Parke Bernet, Monaco) no. 1158
1981, (Daniel Katz, London, England)
1981-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Montagu, J. "Massimiliano Soldani's Venus Plucking the Wings of Cupid." National Gallery of Canada Bulletin, no. 24 (1974): pp. 22-35, p. 33, fig. 8 (ill.).
Sales cat., Sotheby Parke Bernet. Monaco, May 27, 1980, no. 1158.
Bulletin of the DIA 60, nos. 1 and 2 (1981-1982): p. 7 (ill.).
Lankeit, K. Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufactur Doccia. Munich, 1982, p. 121, no. 17 (fig. 124).
Darr, A.P. "Florentine Baroque Bronzes by Susini, Soldani, and Foggini." Bulletin of the DIA 61, nos. 1-2 (Summer 1983): pp. 4-17, fig. 12 (ill.).
Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat.,Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, cat. no. 18 (ill.).
Darr, A. The Figure Revisited: Early Doccia Porcelain Sculptures in Detroit and its Development in 18th-Century Italy, in The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar. London, June 1994, p. 9.
Darr, A.P., P. Barnet, A. Bostrom, C. Avery, et al. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2002, 2 vols., II, cat. 150.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Giovanni Battista Foggini, Cupid and Psyche, ca. between 1710 and 1720, bronze with brown patina and red-gold lacquer. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 81.695.
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