Footbath

Footbath

This is the right foot of Antonio Canova’s Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (Denon, room 403). On the ground-floor of the Denon Wing, this sculpture is as popular as Michelangelo’s Slaves torturously looming over the other end of the Galerie Italienne against the backdrop of the door from the Stanga Palace in Cremona. The guards are asked about Canova so often that his name has been added in red marker to the sign at the room entrance. Not far from Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python—the privileged setting for glorious selfies reproducing the pose of the god of male beauty—Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, the object of fetish, draws a stamping crowd of admirers milling around it. People take pictures of themselves and rub Cupid’s foot like Montaigne’s in front of the Sorbonne. Is this one, too, supposed to bring good luck? In any case, Canova’s foot could use a good soapy wash.