Sleeping Endymion
Medium
marble
Dimensions
64.8 × 53.4 × 45.8 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Grace Rainey Rogers in memory of her father, William J. Rainey
Accession Number
1942.51
Tags
male
About this artwork
Cornacchini moved away from the dramatic movement and light effects characteristic of baroque sculpture toward a calmer, gentler, more graceful style favored by 18th-century taste. This sculpture depicts Endymion, a beautiful young shepherd from Greek mythology. His beauty so entranced Selene, the personification of the moon, that she asked Zeus to grant Endymion immortality. Zeus did so, but only after placing Endymion in an eternal sleep.