HeraclesOmphale1.0059

Jacques Dumont, called le Romain (1701-1781), "Hercule et Omphale" (1728), oil on canvas, 133.5 x 167 cm,

Influenced by Destouches' 1701 Omphale and the success of Lemoyne's 1725 "Hercule et Omphale" then at the Louvre, the young Dumont le Romaine went for an adaptation of his own.

The queen of Lydia, Omphale, has purchased Hercules, whose thralldom to her will expiate his murder of Iole's brother Iphitus. In this picture, among the most erotically charged of grand-master adaptations, Dumont sets the couple on a palatial terrace under a wild sky. She has dressed her sex slave in a fine women's dress with elegant shoes and a lovely bracelet; and her preference seems to be wear no clothing except the loosely doffed Nemean Lion's skin. While two Erotes busy themselves with the finishing of his yarn production another sets the mood above the lovers. Hercules holds the ironic distaff; Omphale's fondling of the hero's club in her left hand positions it suggestively so that it rises from her own loins.