Amor and Psyche

Sculptures produced of burnt red clay, with subjects from the ancient myth of the beautiful Psyche and of the god Eros (in Latin Amor), who fell in love with her, were made as bozzettas, i.e. modellos for the sandstone sculptures in the garden of the chateau in Slavkov near Brno. They were commissioned by Count Dominik Ondřej Kounic (1655–1705), who as imperiál Vice-Chancellor lived in Vienna. There he may have seen the workshop products commissioned for the baroque garden in Slavkov, a cycle of sandstone sculptures on the themes from the mythology of the Antiquity. However, over the centuries, many changes were made in the garden so that now its original baroque appearance is hard to reconstruct. The sculptures of Amor and Psyche and of Jupiter with Amor are among the few still remaining in their original places. Both modellos are masterful pieces of sculpture, with lively, spontaneous modelling, which is absent from the final workshop realization in sandstone.