In Gallery 17 of the Louvre's Greek and Roman antiquities wing, far from the crowds of the Denon Gallery, a marble figure lies sleeping on a soft mattress carved from travertine stone.
Most visitors pass by without stopping. Those who do stop instinctively walk around it.
And then they understand.
The oldest trick in art history
The Sleeping Hermaphrodite was created by an unknown Roman sculptor in the 2nd century AD, copied from a lost Greek original. The figure, viewed from behind, appears to be a beautiful young woman sleeping peacefully on her side.
Walk around to the front, and the illusion dissolves entirely.
The sculpture depicts Hermaphroditus, the child of Hermes and Aphrodite in Greek mythology — a figure who combined both male and female characteristics. The Romans found the subject endlessly fascinating, and several versions of this sculpture existed across the ancient world. The Louvre holds what is generally considered the finest.
The mattress that shocked Paris
The marble mattress beneath the figure was not part of the original. It was commissioned in 1619 by Cardinal Borghese and carved by the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini — the same Bernini who would go on to become the greatest sculptor of the Baroque period.
Bernini was 21 years old. The mattress took him three months and is one of the most remarkable pieces of illusionistic carving in history. Look closely and you will see the fabric fold, compress, and crease beneath the figure's weight as convincingly as real linen.
Finding it in the Louvre
The sculpture sits away from the standard tourist routes. Most visitors following the standard Louvre circuit never reach it.
[[CTA|Want to find the rooms everyone else misses? Our private Louvre tours skip the queues and take you deep into galleries most visitors never see — with stories that change how you look at everything.|Explore Our Louvre Tour|Ask a Question]]