Canova's Cupid a Touche of class

A marble statue of Cupid, or Amorino, by the Italian neoclassical sculptor, Antonio Canova, thought to have been lost, has been donated to the National Gallery. The 142 cmhigh statue goes on display there from next Wednesday.

Amorino was originally commissioned in Italy from Canova by John David La Touche, who brought the statue back with him to Ireland in 1792. For most of the 20th century, however, the whereabouts of Amorino was unknown, until it turned up in England in the mid-1990s.

When found, it had been exposed to the weather, painted white and was covered in moss. It was withdrawn from a London sale in 1996 but acquired by the Bank of Ireland last year for £520,000.

The statue was donated to the National Gallery in honour of the La Touche family who were patrons of the arts and first governors of the Bank of Ireland.

Restoration of the statue was carried out by Mr Jason Ellis at the National Gallery under the supervision of Mr Sergio Benedetti, the gallery's chief curator. Mr Benedetti was responsible for initiating the process which returned the Amorino to Ireland.

Mr Raymond Keaveney, director of the National Gallery, said the donation of Amorino had "restored to the Irish public one of the most important works ever commissioned abroad by an Irish patron."