10 most sensual sculptures of lovers

Love encased in stone.

Here is a selection of passionate, exquisite sculptures, each of which tells its own story of love.

, Marie de Medici Fountain

, Marie de Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens is considered one of the most romantic places in Paris. The central figures - young lovers Acis and Galatea. According to legend, the Cyclops Polyphemus in love with the beautiful Galatea, but she rejected him because she loved no less beautiful Aqeedah. Then the enraged Polyphemus crushed his cliff. But Galatea had time to turn his unfortunate lover in a clear river. The fountain depicts the lovers in the moment before the crash: at them hangs already angry Polyphemus, but they still do not see it and are unaware of the danger.

Cupid and Psyche

This is one of the most famous sculptures by Antonio Canova, the masters of the XVIII century. Canova was inspired by a great love story, told in Apuleius' Golden Ass. " Crossed lovers almost ruined the envy of the most beautiful goddess. Venus ordered Psyche to go down into the underworld of the vessel with the beauty, forbidding her to look at him. Beloved Cupid violated the ban, opened the lid and was covered by a magic sleep. Kiss of Cupid returned Psyche to life.

This moment sculptor portrayed in marble. Cupid just descended from heaven and touched the ground. Wings like god hold in the air, and Psyche, still half asleep, rises to meet her lover. Canova has created two masterpieces on the same story: the first copy of the sculpture in the Louvre (Paris), and the second, the changes in the Hermitage.

Venus and Adonis

If the "Cupid and Psyche" by Canova everyone knows something about many of his statues are often overlooked. And among them are some stunning monuments of love, such as "Venus and Adonis". Goddess fell in love with the beautiful hunter, and her lover Mars, angry, turned into a wild boar and killed Adonis while hunting. Venus was inconsolable, and after much debate, it was decided that the young man will spend six months in the realm of the dead, and for six months - with his beloved.

Again, Cupid and Psyche

Sculpture Italian Tsintsinatusa Barozzi (mid XIX century) reflects another part of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, almost the beginning of his: the beautiful Psyche, who could not find a husband among mortals, became the wife of the mysterious invisible creatures. For the first time she could see him asleep, when the sisters persuaded her to illuminate the Amur. In the Barozzi captures the moment when Psyche admires the beauty of her sleeping husband, the first time he saw him.

The Rape of Proserpina

The marble statue of the "Rape of Proserpine by Pluto" Gian Lorenzo Bernini began building in 1621, he was only 23 years old. He captured the moment when the god of the underworld just for a moment appeared on the surface to steal the young daughter of Ceres. Sculpture riddled expression, fingers Pluto literally dig into the thigh of Proserpine, and inadvertently forget that you look at a marble statue. "I won the marble and made it flexible like wax, and thereby was able to some extent to combine sculpture with painting," - Bernini wrote.

Kiss

The famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin "The Kiss," originally bore the name "Francesca da Rimini", in honor of her illustrious depicted on the Italian ladies of the XIII century, whose name is immortalized by Dante's Divine Comedy (The terms of the second, fifth song). The lady fell in love with the younger brother of her husband Giovanni Malatesta, Paolo. When they read the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, I found them, and then killed her husband. On the sculpture can be seen as the Paolo holds a book in his hand. But in fact, the lovers do not touch each other's lips, as if alluding to the fact that they were killed without committing sin.

The Eternal Idol

This is another work of Auguste Rodin (1889), sensual and dramatic composition, inspired by sculptor personal relationship with his young pupil, Camille Claudel. Rodin and Claudel met in 1883, when he taught sculpture to her and her friends. About a year later, she began working in his studio and became his source of inspiration, a model student and lover. Master gave his beloved part of the work - the result was they really work overall, but his mood bleak. A man stands in front of the girl on his knees, not daring to look into her eyes. Another moment ago, she hugged him, but removes the hand and sorrowful look. Their eyes are closed - they do not see the future.

Together Forever

This sculpture - one of the headstones Monumental Cemetery of Milan, has more than one hundred and forty years. Residents of the city in advance to buy a place for burial, ordered the sculptor and architect projects gravestones or tombs, depending on taste, money and fashion trends. The work of an unknown author's family crypt is a pair that can separate even death. Their eyes are closed, but the embrace was still tender. It seems as if one day they wake up from this dream as young and loving as they were once.

The loneliness of the soul

The work of the American sculptor Lorado Taft (1914) - is one of the most poignant stories of love and loneliness in stone. The composition is concentrated around the column and represents a love quadrangle - each of its members facing the two partners, but the opponents can not see each other because the column. Taft said himself explained the concept of sculpture as follows: "It is based on the idea that, no matter how closely linked our circumstances, we never really do not know each other."

Adam and Eve

This statue is located in the California Park Villa Montalvo. Its author - a modern American sculptor Gail Koulfild. It is very difficult to determine who the couple, if you look at the sculpture from the front, the more so that in the park there is no sign with the name of the composition. To solve the puzzle, you need to bypass the statue: the reverse side, you can see it gets to a snake that holds the teeth in the apple of knowledge.