Thesis
Replications and Reconciliations of the Borghese Sleeping Hermaphrodite
Abstract
“Replications and Reconciliations of the Borghese Sleeping Hermaphrodite” examines the Borghese Sleeping Hermaphrodite, now in the Louvre, as it represents iconographical nuances and layers created by replicating and modes of viewing and display during the Grand Tour. Unearthed circa 1608, Gianlorenzo Bernini was quickly commissioned to create a plush marble mattress and pillow for the figure. This fusion of the early modern and the antique would be artistically reconceived throughout the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries. The Borghese Sleeping Hermaphrodite is used as a framing tool to investigate the ways in which antiquity and gender were interpreted in the early modern period through display and receptions of the Borghese sculpture itself and the nature of its artistic replicas, in order to ascertain the manner in which the lure of the antique is reconciled with an increasingly conservative public.
Committee
- Estelle Lingo, Chair (Art History)
- Stuart Lingo (Art History)
Bio
Caroline Harvey specializes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Western European art, with a particular interest in perceptions of gender and nudity, artistic replications and interpretations of antiquity, and the trajectory of ancient iconography through early modern European societies. During her time at the UW, Caroline worked as a tutor, student assistant, and teaching assistant. She also represented the Art History department in the Graduate and Professional Student Senate and participated in the reconstitution of the Graduate Students of Art History association as Vice President. Recently, Caroline participated in the “Materials, Making, Meaning” study abroad program in Rome, where she studied at the American Academy to support her thesis research.
Awards
- Pell Recognition Award, 2020
- Global Opportunities Scholarship, 2020
- Classical Art Travel Fellowship, 2019
- William P. and Ruth Gerberding Rome Studies Fellowship, 2019
Education
- Master of Arts, Art History, University of Washington, 2020
- Bachelor of Arts, Art History, University of Washington, 2015