The original marble version of this group was discovered in February 1749 on an estate on the Aventine Hill in Rome. Given by Pope Benedict XIV to the Capitoline Museum in 1750, it was moved to Paris in 1798 under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino, until 1816 when it was returned to Italy.
The group was much reproduced in a variety of media, some with the figures winged, and others, imitating the original, without. The present Cupid and Psyche, although displaying slight variations from the Antique group, retains the same elegance of interlocking forms.