Sleeping Hermaphroditus (Musée du Louvre)

See Arc/k Catalog Page - https://collections.arck-project.org/view/ARCK3D0000000286/ In 1619, Cardinal Scipione Borghese commissioned the Baroque Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sculpt the mattress under the marble figure. This work is a Roman copy that was probably inspired by a Greek original of the 2nd century BC. The subject reflects the taste for languid nudes, surprise effects, and theatricality, all of which were prized in the late Hellenistic period. First impressions are of a gracious and sensuous body that leads one to think that the figure is a female nude in the Hellenistic tradition; this effect is heightened here by the sinuousness of the pose. The other side of the statue then brings a surprise, revealing the figure’s androgynous nature by means of the crudest realism. Support The Arc/k Project: https://arck-project.org/support-the-arck-project/