Image · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Ancient · Sculpture
Sleeping Hermaphroditus
Unknown (Mattress by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1620) · 2nd century AD (Roman copy)
ArtistUnknown (Mattress by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1620)
Date2nd century AD (Roman copy)
TypeSculpture
MediumMarble
Dimensions169 cm long (66.5 in)
LocationSully Wing
— The Work
About this masterpiece
A Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic Greek bronze, the statue depicts Hermaphroditus — the dual-sexed offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite — in a state of deep sleep. The body is presented as a graceful female nude from behind; the front reveals the figure’s androgynous nature. In 1620 the young Bernini was commissioned to add a startlingly realistic marble mattress and pillow.
— Context
Historical significance
The statue passed through the Borghese collection in Rome before being purchased by Napoleon in 1807 along with hundreds of other Borghese antiquities. It remains one of the Louvre’s most beguiling examples of the Hellenistic taste for ambiguity.
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