CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE HERMAPHRODITE
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Depicted as an effeminate youth reclining on his back upon a mantle, leaning to the left with the right shoulder elevated, supporting his raised head on his left hand, the right arm resting on his right thigh, the legs slightly drawn up with the knees bent, the twist of his torso prominently displaying his dual sexuality, the male genitalia of an adolescent youth, the small breasts of a young woman, his wavy hair center parted and tied in a fillet, the ties and long tendrils falling onto his shoulders, the mantle visible beneath his left arm, over his right leg and under his left, the figure restored in the 18th century, perhaps by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799), with the addition of limbs and an ancient head, not original to the torso, with some of the 18th-century restorations abandoned in the late 20th century, the current rocky plinth fashioned during this second restoration
43 5/16 in. (110 cm.) long

Provenance

William Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne, Marquis of Lansdowne (1737-1805), bought from Gavin Hamilton for #40, sent from Rome on May 6, 1775 on board the Tartar (according to a letter dated May 30, 1775).
The Celebrated Collection of Ancient Marbles, The Property of the Most Honourable The Marquess of Lansdowne; Christie's, London, 5 March 1930, lot 77.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 10 April 1978, lot 243.

Literature

Comte F. de Clarac, Musée de sculpture antique et moderne, Paris, 1841-1853, pl. 750.
A. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge, 1882, p. 439, no. 12.
A.H. Smith, based on the work of A. Michaelis, A Catalogue of the Ancient Marbles at Lansdowne House, London, 1889, p. 16, no. 12.
S. Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire Grecque et Romaine, Tome I, Quatre mille statues antiques, Paris, 1906, p. 436, pl. 750, no. 1829a.
C.C. Vermeule, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain," American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 59, no. 2, 1955, p. 131.

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Lot Essay

Although depictions of Hermaphrodite are not particularly numerous, enough survive in marble, bronze, terracotta and on gems that several types can be identified. The god is often portrayed standing, nude or partially draped, including an anasyromenos type, recalling images of Priapus, both as a free-standing statue and as a herm. The most famous type, known from several copies, shows the god sleeping, recumbent on the stomach. The Lansdowne Hermaphrodite, reclining on the back, supporting the head in the left hand, is rare in terms of surviving sculpture in the round, and closely corresponds to the sculptural type of the sleeping nymph. A sardonyx cameo in London presents a complete view, with the god partially reclining, but not as dramatically as restored in the 18th century. For the cameo see no. 57 in Ajootian, "Hermaphroditos" in LIMC.

Hamilton had the sculpture restored, most likely by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799) before shipping it to London. The drawing of the sculpture from the Reinach publication (above) illustrates a complete figure, head to toe, reclining on a rocky plinth. After the 1978 sale some of the 18th-century restorations were removed, most significantly the lower legs and feet, and it was set into a new, rustically-finished base recalling the work of the sculptor Auguste Rodin.

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