Focus on this artwork and analyze the Original Borghese copy.
The ancient sculpture was discovered in the first decades of the 17th century—unearthed in the grounds of Santa Maria della Vittoria, near the Baths of Diocletian and within the bounds of the ancient Gardens of Sallust. The discovery was made either when the church foundations were being dug (in 1608) or when espaliers were being planted.The sculpture was presented to the connoisseur Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who in return granted the order the services of his architect Giovanni Battista Soria and paid for the façade of the church, albeit sixteen years later. In his new Villa Borghese, a room called the Room of the Hermaphrodite was devoted to it.
In 1620, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Scipione's protégé, was paid sixty scudi for making the buttoned mattress upon which the Hermaphroditus reclines, so strikingly realistic that visitors are inclined to give it a testing prod.The Sleeping Hermaphrodite and many other sculptures were purchased in 1807 from prince Camillo Borghese, owner of the Borghese Collection, who had married Pauline Bonaparte. It was transferred to The Louvre, where it inspired Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem "Hermaphroditus" in 1863.
Santa Maria della Vittoria Hermaphroditus Scipione Borghese Borghese Collection espalier The Louvre Giovanni Battista Soria Baths of Diocletian Pauline Bonaparte Algernon Charles Swinburne scudi Gardens of Sallust Louvre Gian Lorenzo Bernini Camillo Borghese Villa Borghese