HeraclesOmphale1.0007

HeraclesOmphale1.0007_Baldung

OGCMA, s.v. "Heracles and Omphale"
images.zeno.org

Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545), "Hercules and Omphale", pen and ink drawing, 1533, Paris, École des Beaux-Arts.

The queen of Lydia, Omphale, has purchased Heracles, whose thralldom to her will expiate his murder of Iole's brother Iphitus.

A detailed black and white sketch depicts a bearded man and a woman in a classical style, both holding staffs

Omphale is half-clad in the Nemean Lion's skin and holds the hero's mighty club. She offers him the implements of spinning. Her gaze with a wry grin seems to suggest the artist's satirical approach to a vignette in which the hero's submission to the queen seems foolish.

Treated in C. Bischoff, "Die Schwäche des starken Geschlechts", abb. 3.

See also A. Kent Hieatt (1983), "Hans Baldung Grien's Ottawa Eve and its Context," Art Bulletin 65:290-304 (https://doi.org/10.2307/3050323).
See now
Enenkel, Karl A.E. 2024. Theatre of Sexual Attraction and Psychological Destruction: the myth of Hercules and Omphale in the visual arts, 1500-1800. Intersections, Volume 91. Brill.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.