Narcissus, or “The Mazarin Hermaphrodite” - I

The present work known as Narcissus or “The Mazarin Hermaphrodite”, combines the bust of an antique funerary effigy with the lower part of a body from a different statue. The figure was much admired in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was known by the Romantic name of “The Spirit of Eternal Rest”.

Described in 1661 as being in the upper gallery of the Palais Mazarin, it was vandalized in 1670 by the Duc de Mazarin (1632–1713), who mutilated the more naked statues in his collection.

Cardinal Mazarin (1602–61) put together, first in Rome, then in Paris, a collection of antiquities which he stored in the two galleries of his Parisian palace (today, the Bibliothèque Nationale). After Mazarin’s death, Colbert acquired the finest of the antiquities for Louis XIV in 1665. The rest of the collection remained in the Palais Mazarin, before being partially dispersed in the 18th century, then confiscated during the Revolution for the Louvre.

 

Source: Louvre WEB Site

 

Marble Roman sculpture

3rd century AD

H. 1.87 m

Mazarin collection

Paris, Musée du Louvre

 

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