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Lot Essay
The child of Hermes and Aphrodite, Hermaphroditus, was born a boy. According to Ovid, he was remarkably handsome, and when he encountered the nymph Salmacis in her pool, she fell in love with him. He rejected her, and when he thought her gone, entered the water to bathe. Salmacis leapt from behind a tree into the pool, wrapping herself around him and calling to the gods that they should never be parted. Her wish was granted and their bodies were merged together to create a creature of both sexes.
Solomon, particularly in the latter part of his life, was fascinated by the androgynous and so it is little surprise that he took Hermaphroditus as a subject. The subject was certainly in discussion amongst the circle of Pre-Raphaelite artists and writers within which Solomon moved, and Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) had written a poem in 1863 inspired by the statue of the Borghese Hermaphroditus in the Louvre.
Solomon, particularly in the latter part of his life, was fascinated by the androgynous and so it is little surprise that he took Hermaphroditus as a subject. The subject was certainly in discussion amongst the circle of Pre-Raphaelite artists and writers within which Solomon moved, and Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) had written a poem in 1863 inspired by the statue of the Borghese Hermaphroditus in the Louvre.