Hermaphrodite study 1v   

Hermaphrodite as Caryatid (1520-1521)

by:   Romano      patron:   Leo X      category: Drawing   

note:  The figure of this drawing appears beneath the fresco of The Vision of the Cross in the Sala di Costantino as one of the fictive caryatids; From Rijksmuseum: "The yoke on the shoulders refers to the motto of Pope Leo X, who commissioned the work: ‘For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’. An androgynous figure was viewed in the Renaissance as embodying the divine, combining the beauty of both genders." https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1948-714(V)