LGBT Artwork: Sleeping Hermaphroditus
7:00 AMLGBT Artwork
From Lesbos to New York
Curated by Camille O'Leary
A Hellenistic bronze, copied by a Roman sculptor in marble, now reclining on a seventeenth-century mattress: the Sleeping Hermaphroditus has a long history. From behind, the sensuous, shapely pose of the sleeping figure resembles a traditional female nude, but the frontal view reveals the male genitalia of Hermaphroditus. The son of Hermes and Aphrodite in myth, Hermaphroditus was originally a handsome man, who attracted the unwelcome attentions of the nymph Salmacis. Salmacis begged the gods for the chance to be with her love forever; they obliged by merging Hermaphroditus and Salmacis into one being who was a perfect blend between two genders.
This statue was discovered in Rome in 1608 and made part of the Borghese collection. The Borghese family, particularly Cardinal Scipione Borghese, collected a wide range of sculptures and paintings both modern and ancient. In 1619, the famous sculptor Bernini was commissioned to create a mattress for Hermaphroditus, which, though marble, seems appealingly soft and yielding. With this new bed, Hermaphroditus could recline in flirtatious comfort for many years. In 1807, the sculpture was sold to the Louvre, where it now resides.
Here, Hermaphroditus's dual nature is a theatrical gesture typical of Hellenistic sculpture. The contrast of his feminine and masculine anatomies gives the viewer a crude shock, which doesn't lessen the playfully erotic pose. The original sculptor, Polycles, probably drew inspiration from older female nudes, and particularly from contemporary depictions of Dionysus, who often took more feminine attitudes. Hermaphroditus was associated with the union of men and women in a figurative as well as literal sense, presiding over weddings, effeminacy, and androgyny. Artists have depicted or suggested homosexuality in their works for centuries, often as a reflection of their own preferences. "Alternative" genders and sexualities are not a twenty-first century invention; they have existed and been acknowledged since antiquity.
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| Unknown/Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Sleeping Hermaphroditus, unknown/1620 |
A Hellenistic bronze, copied by a Roman sculptor in marble, now reclining on a seventeenth-century mattress: the Sleeping Hermaphroditus has a long history. From behind, the sensuous, shapely pose of the sleeping figure resembles a traditional female nude, but the frontal view reveals the male genitalia of Hermaphroditus. The son of Hermes and Aphrodite in myth, Hermaphroditus was originally a handsome man, who attracted the unwelcome attentions of the nymph Salmacis. Salmacis begged the gods for the chance to be with her love forever; they obliged by merging Hermaphroditus and Salmacis into one being who was a perfect blend between two genders.
This statue was discovered in Rome in 1608 and made part of the Borghese collection. The Borghese family, particularly Cardinal Scipione Borghese, collected a wide range of sculptures and paintings both modern and ancient. In 1619, the famous sculptor Bernini was commissioned to create a mattress for Hermaphroditus, which, though marble, seems appealingly soft and yielding. With this new bed, Hermaphroditus could recline in flirtatious comfort for many years. In 1807, the sculpture was sold to the Louvre, where it now resides.
Here, Hermaphroditus's dual nature is a theatrical gesture typical of Hellenistic sculpture. The contrast of his feminine and masculine anatomies gives the viewer a crude shock, which doesn't lessen the playfully erotic pose. The original sculptor, Polycles, probably drew inspiration from older female nudes, and particularly from contemporary depictions of Dionysus, who often took more feminine attitudes. Hermaphroditus was associated with the union of men and women in a figurative as well as literal sense, presiding over weddings, effeminacy, and androgyny. Artists have depicted or suggested homosexuality in their works for centuries, often as a reflection of their own preferences. "Alternative" genders and sexualities are not a twenty-first century invention; they have existed and been acknowledged since antiquity.
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