Sleeping Hermaphroditus

Lore & Background

The sculpture was discovered in 1618, unearthed in the grounds of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, near the Baths of Diocletian and within the bounds of the ancient Gardens of Sallust. The discovery was likely made during the excavation of the church's foundation or while planting espaliers nearby. It was presented to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who included the work in the Borghese Collection and commissioned the marble mattress, for which Gian Lorenzo Bernini was paid sixty scudi. It is likely that Scipione dedicated an entire room of the Villa Borghese to the sculpture.

Reader's Guide

The Sleeping Hermaphroditus is significant as a well-preserved example of an ancient Roman copy of a Hellenistic bronze, demonstrating the continuity of classical themes and the Roman taste for Greek art. Its discovery in 1618 and subsequent acquisition by Cardinal Scipione Borghese placed it at the center of Baroque collecting culture, and Bernini's addition of the marble mattress integrated contemporary artistry with the ancient work. The sculpture's sale to France in 1807, during the Napoleonic era, reflects the political and financial pressures on Roman collections at the time. Its presence in the Louvre has ensured continued influence, inspiring later works such as a bronze copy for Philip IV of Spain by Matteo Bonuccelli, a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne in 1863, and a 2010 copy in Belgian black marble by Barry X Ball. Multiple ancient copies survive, attesting to the popularity of the subject in antiquity.

Did You Know?

• The sculpture was discovered in 1618 at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini was paid sixty scudi for carving the marble mattress.
• The original bronze by Polycles was mentioned in Pliny's Natural History.
• A second-century copy found in 1781 now stands in the Galleria Borghese.