Sleeping Hermaphrodite – the ever-present third gender

The figure of the Hermaphrodite stimulated the imagination of the people of Antiquity in a particular way. A being of two genders – both female and male – seemed privileged exceptional, and completely ideal, however, it also aroused ambivalent feelings and suspicion. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a figure with male genitalia and female breasts garnered a lot of attention both in literature as well as in the visual arts. When it comes to the latter, the favored topic (although not the only one), was a sleeping Hermaphrodite. This is how he is depicted, stretched on b...

Simon Vouet’s Herodias with the Head of St. John the Baptist – femme fatale of the Baroque

Femme fatale is associated with painting and literature of the XIX century – with women who devoured the hearts of men, cold-blooded demons of sex who with premeditation led men to their downfall. However, beautiful, erotic, attractive, but at the same time ruthless and sophisticated women have always fascinated artists. We can find them in ancient literature and mythology, as well as in the Old and New Testaments. We can also see them in the painting creations of Caravaggio and his successors because it was exactly in the XVII century when Salome, Judith, and Herodias became fashionable...

Spada Chapel – ancestors, meaning capital which cannot be underestimated

Numerous posthumous chapels, which we can see during a pilgrimage through Roman churches are generally filled with decorations and works of art. They arouse our respect, and approval, and let our thoughts linger on the grandeur and significance of the family, but above all their sense of art. It is quite seldom that we think about them in purely practical categories, not to say mercantile. It is a rare situation indeed that we can say that the main motive of their creation was not only the desire to immortalize one’s fame, but also the prestige of future, yet unborn successors of the fam...