HeraclesOmphale1.0075

HeraclesOmphale1.0075_Thorvaldsen

OGCMA, s.v. "Heracles and Omphale"
Thorvaldsensmuseum

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), "Hercules and Omphale", not before 1792, plaster cast relief, Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensmuseum, no. A749.

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

Ancient Roman relief depicting Dionysus, a satyr, and a maenad reclining in a circular composition

Omphale controls Heracles traditional attributes, the Nemean Lionskin and his mighty club, in this erotically charged moment. She even manipulates his access to the distaff protruding from his flank. Yet, the two are evenly paired in an embrace that centralizes their contact and marginalizes their attributes. His reclined pose may remind one of any range of figures from the god Tiber to reclining nymphs; but, his clothing is decisively feminine with that gather over his right thigh.

See the article by Ernst Jonas Bencard (2009), "Shifting of Attributes — a fundamental feature in Thorvaldsen," Arkivet/Thorvaldsensmuseum.dk

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.