HeraclesOmphale1.0011

HeraclesOmphale1.0011Spranger

The figurative emasculation of Hercules and the empowerment of Omphale is depicted in the various objects. The once-hero now cross-dressed holds the tools of spinning wool and the heroically nude mistress holds his club and wears his Nemean Lion's skin. She glances knowingly at the viewer; Heracles eyes her longingly; and the old crone scorns him with hand-gestures, i.e. the "horns of Actaeon".

The scandalous role-reversal is treated thus in Ovid's Ars Amatoria 2.217-24: "That hero who outlasted his step-mother's putting monsters in his way and gained heaven, which he earlier held on his own shoulders; people believe that he joined Ionian girls, that he grasped the distaff and carded slubby wool. / The hero of Tiryns obeyed the command of his mistress! Come, consider whether you wouldn't also endure what Heracles endured!" (RTM trans.)