HeraclesOmphale1.0037

Luca Giordano (1634-1705), "Hercules and Omphale" (ca. 1675), oil on canvas; Naples, Capodimonte Museum, d'Arabe Bequest 1882, inv. Q1482.

The queen of Lydia, Omphale, has purchased Hercules, whose thralldom to her will expiate his murder of Iole's brother Iphitus. The post-labors semi-divine sex slave here is shown enjoying the considerable attention he receives. One could hardly conclude that the hero's nudity in this scene is meant to be "heroic". Instead, while he merrily holds aloft the impliments of wool-making, Omphale handles his club — positioned suggestively by the painter — and simultaneously uses her left hand for apparently erotic purposes also.

Hanging in a room with several other reclining (female) nudes by Luca Giordano, this painting's painterly role-reversal turns Heracles into an eroticized specimen for voyeuristic gazing as a Venus or other female nude could be regarded.