Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss is considered a masterpiece of neoclassical sculpture
The Italian neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova was known as the creator of marble sculptures, which were delicately sculpted into naked people. One of his most famous sculptures is Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, also known as Psyche and Cupid, which he sculpted between 1787 and 1793. In this sculpture, Canova portrayed the loving embrace of two major characters from Greek mythology: Love, or Cupid in Latin, and the soul, Psyche. He captures two sides of love; its incredible strength and its fragility and tenderness. The original Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss sculpture is currently on display at the Louvre in Paris.
The Kiss by Auguste Rodin is an iconic image of love
The famous marble sculpture The Kiss from 1882 by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin represents a sensuality that shocked contemporaries. The embracing couple depicted in the sculpture was originally part of a group of reliefs adorning Rodin's monumental bronze portal known as The Gates of Hell, commissioned for the planned Art Museum in Paris. This couple was later removed because it depicted a positive state contradicting the overall tone of the Inferno gates. Rodin transformed the group into an independent work which the public called The Kiss and exhibited it with his Monument to Balzac in 1898. Today, the sculpture The Kiss is in the Rodin Museum in Paris, and it is still one of the most famous and most adored sculptures in the world.
Dying Slave by Michelangelo
The statue of the Dying Slave is one of six statues of slaves sculpted by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II between 1513 and 1516. In 1546, Michelangelo gave this statue along with its companion statue, the Rebellious Slave, to Ruberto Strozzi, who in turn presented them to King François I of France. In 1794, the Rebellious and Dying Slaves were purchased for the French state, and have been preserved in the Museum Louvre in Paris ever since.
Rebellious Slave by Michelangelo
In 1506 Pope Julius II invited Michelangelo to Rome and gave him the task of drafting and constructing his tomb. For the tomb, Michelangelo also worked on a group of statues from 1513 to 1536. initially titled Prisoners, renamed the "slaves" only in the 19th century. He sculpted the most famous pair of slaves between 1513 and 1516. commonly referred to as the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave due to their respective revealing demeanors. The other four slaves were only partially carved by Michelangelo and still trapped in a block of marble. The Rebellious Slave was intended for a niche, but now it is exhibited as a free-standing pendant to the Dying Slave in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Thinker by Auguste Rodin is a symbol of philosophy and knowledge
One of Auguste Rodin's most famous works, Le Penseur, or The Thinker was intended to be a part of Rodin's The Gates of Hell and represent an early Italian Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri pondering The Divine Comedy, his epic story of Paradise and Inferno. However, in 1889 Rodin exhibited the sculpture independently of The Gates, giving it the title The Thinker, and in 1902 he embarked on this larger version. Sculpture The Thinker exists in many marble and bronze editions in several sizes were which were executed in Rodin's lifetime and after. The most famous version is the bronze statue cast in 1904 that sits in the gardens of the Rodin Museum in Paris.