HeraclesOmphale2.0004

Antonio Balestra (1666-1740), "Ercole e Onfale," oil on canvas, 140 x 180 cm, Bologna in a private collection.

Included by Ghio and Baccheschi (cited below) with this explication: "The picture, which circulated in the antiquaries market at Bologna and was published for publicity in "Arte Veneta" (1963) as a work by Giannantonio Pellegrini, was assigned to Balestra by Egidio Martini who finds in the work the stylistic sense of the painter, who is ready to apply, notwithstanding his classical education, also the suggestions of rococò all the more when he engages allegorical and non-religious themes." (Ghio & Baccheschi, 218)

Martini, Egidio. 1964. La pittura veneziana del Settecento. Venice.
Ghio, Lilli and Edi Baccheschi. 1989. Antonio Balestra. Estratto da "I Pittori Bergamaschi", raccolta di studi a cura della Banca Popolare di Bergamo. Bergamo: Poligrafiche Bolis. — Item 113, pp 218 and 284.

A stand-out in the oeuvre of a painter who engaged mostly sacred subjects, this picture shows the queen approaching the resupine hero in an erotic context. He has been engaged in tapping the tamborine. The playful Erotes nearby set the mood. Omphale's superior position shows her to be in charge; her possession of the Nemean Lion's skin and the club go to this same end. Both she and the Eros at left are freeing the hero's hands for what is to come.

Mentioned but not included by K.A.E. Enenkel (2025) Theatre of Sexual Attraction and Psychological Destruction: the myth of Hercules and Omphale in the visual arts, 1500-1800 (Leiden and Boston: Brill). See p. 366 fn. 32.

The image at right is derived from Ghio & Baccheschi.