Hermes Ludovisi

The Hermes Ludovisi,^[1] also formerly known as Mercurio Oratore ("Mercury the Orator"),^[2] is a Hellenistic sculpture of the god Hermes in his form of Hermes Psychopompus. It is made of Italic marble and is a somewhat slick^[3] 1st-century AD Roman copy after an inferred bronze original of the 5th century BC which is traditionally attributed to the young Phidias, ca 440 BC,^[4] or alternatively called "Myronic".^[5] Its model is among the earliest sculptural representations of Hermes as beardless and youthful.^[6] It was acquired by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi for the Ludovisi collection and is now on show at the Palazzo Altemps.

The unrestored Anzio Hermes of Ludovisi type

The Ludovisi Hermes

A variant on a somewhat reduced scale, found in Anzio, is conserved in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. As in other free Roman-era copies, there are variations in the shaping of the soft-brimmed petasos Hermes wears and the angle of the kerykeion in his left hand.