The Sleeping Hermaphrodite (Borghese) (Grisaille Paintings of Classical Statuary: a set of eight reproductions of celebrated antiques with the addition of niches, pedestals, classical masonry, trees, etc.)
Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705 - 1772)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1765
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
724 x 972 mm (28 1/2 x 38 1/4 in)
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872547
Caption
According to the Roman poet, Ovid's Metamorphoses (4:285 -388), Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite who refused the advances of one of Diana's nymphs, Salmacis. But the gods then answered her prayer that their bodies could be joined into one. The marble Hermaphrodite, lying on side with arms above the head, was unearthed near the Baths of Diocletian in Rome in about 1608. It was believed to be a Roman copy of a bronze mid-second century BC original by Polycles. It was presented to Cardinal Scipione Borghese who commissioned Bernini to restore it and make the marble mattress. It became one of the most admired statues in the Borghese Collection and was commonly reproduced in bronze and on a reduced scale in marble. In 1807 it was purchased with the bulk of the Borghese Collection by Napoleon and is now in the Louvre.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Sleeping Hermaphrodite (Borghese) (Grisalle Paintings of Classical Statuary: a set of eight reproductions of celebrated antiques with the addition of niches, pedestals, classical masonry, trees, etc.) by Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705-1772), signed bottom right: L.G. Blanchet. One of a set of eight paintings of classical statuary, grisaille, signed and dated by Louise-Gabriel Blanchet,1765. All are framed in 18th century moulded and white painted frames, but of various dimensions.
Provenance
History not known, but from their date probably commissioned by John Parker, later Lord Boringdon, on his Grand Tour; then, from the absence of any reference to them in catalogues or inventories and their plain white frames, probably set into the walls of some garden building; Given to the National Trust as part of the endowment by Montagu Brownlow Parker, 5th Earl of Morley (1878-1962)
Credit line
Saltram, The Morley Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705 - 1772) , artist
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, 48