Currently held in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, Canova's Cupid and Psyche was judged by his followers as by far his most exemplary work. However, Canova's detractors felt that it typified his headlong chase after the cloying styles of the Rococo. The sentimentality was deemed to be unappealing and the structure too loose. In fact, Canova's greatest detractor, Fernow described the work as a 'Rococo windmill', a comment that is certainly unfair given the centripetal as opposed to centrifugal composition, focusing on the central moment of suspense.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Fred Licht and David Finn, Canova, Abbeville Press, New York, 1983