Pietro Tenerani (1789-1869) was born in Carrara and began his studies there. He attended the studio of his uncle, the sculptor Pietro Marchetti, and the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara under Lorenzo Bartolini. He won a scholarship to Rome in 1814, where he completed his studies at the Academy of S. Luca and frequented Canova. In 1817 he joined Thorwaldsen's studio, where he swiftly became one of the master's favoured pupils and head of the atelier in Thorwaldsen's absence. In 1825 he was made professor of the Academy of S. Luca, in 1856 its president, in 1860 a general director of the Vatican Museums, and earlier in 1839 an honorary member of the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. Tenerani appears to have treated the subject of Psyche three times in his career. The earliest model is the Psyche Abandoned of 1817. This was first seen in the house of the Marchesa Carlotta de' Medici Lenzoni in Florence, where it was greatly admired by the critic and poet Giordani, who published a lyrical eulogy on it in the 1826 Antologia in 1826 (De Micheli, op. cit., p. 41). The marble figure was exhibited in the Campidoglio Exhibition of 1819, and it is known that Tenerani executed other versions of it, including one for the Prince Metternich and the present example. The statue was greatly acclaimed and brought the sculptor widespread fame and notoriety. In the wake of this success Tenerani created his Psyche Fainting of 1822, now in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome. Equally celebrated, Tenerani executed 12 further versions, including one for the Czar of Russia. A third model of 1819 of Psyche with Pandora's vase is mentioned by Sapori (op. cit.), though there appears to be no other record. The Psyche Abandoned also exists in a reduced gilt-bronze version in the Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen. This was made for the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark during his Roman stay of 1819-20. Having commissioned a series of Thorwaldsen's works in reduced form to be modelled by Freund and Galli and cast by Jollange & Hopfgarten in Rome for a gilt-bronze centre-table, he was so taken by Tenerani's figure that he included it in the commission.
A refined and graceful work, the Psyche Abandoned reveals the influence of Canova and Bartolini in its romantic purity. Psyche is shown as an adolescent beauty, innocent and defenceless in her dismay at her lover's disappearance. The statue illustrates Psyche just after Cupid's angry departure. Curious of the identity of her nightly visitor, Psyche lit an oil lamp to examine him, however a drop of hot oil from the lamp awakened him and he abandoned her. This fine image is a poetic conception and a masterly piece of carving, in which the forms are delicately and flowingly executed. Hartman (op. cit.) has pointed out interestingly that Gibson's 1831 Seated Nymph is almost a pendant to the Psyche Abandoned, and it is likely that the Englishman was aware of Tenerani's work in Rome. The present marble was exhibited by Tenerani at the Royal Academy in 1846, though its date of execution is probably somewhat earlier.