Sleeping Endymion

About the 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.

Provenance

c. 1920–1925: Private collection (Rome, Italy), ca. 1920-25 (according to a letter from Roberto Longhi, November 13, 1964); 1942: Grace Rainey Rogers, 1867-1943 (New York, New York), by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942.

Exhibition history

Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949). Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).

Quick Overview

Artist: Agostino Cornacchini (Italian, 1686–1754)
Date: 1716
Medium: marble
Dimensions: Overall: 64.8 x 53.4 x 45.8 cm (25 1/2 x 21 x 18 1/16 in.)
Type: Sculpture
Classification: Sculpture
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Gift of Grace Rainey Rogers in memory of her father, William J. Rainey
Accession no.: 1942.51

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.