HeraclesOmphale2.0108

Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888), "Hercules at the Feet of Omphale" (1861), oil on canvas, 92 1/4 x 64 1/4 in., signed and dated by artist; auctioned and sold by Christie's to a (presumed private) collector as Christie's Lot 2454357. For full exhibition history from the Paris Salon of 1861 to 1990, see the site linked above.

The queen of Lydia, Omphale, has purchased Hercules, whose thralldom to her will expiate his murder of Iole's brother Iphitus. In this comic-erotic adaption, Boulanger emphasizes the queen's sexual conquest over her physically superior partner. His right hand grasps a spool of thread he has spun, gripping it in a suggestive gesture; the threat's other end is wound around the distaff she holds aloft triumphantly. Her left hand suppresses his distorted face. The budoir-appropriate creaminess of her nude skin emphasizes the contrasting bronze achieved through his life's Labors. The Nemean Lion's pelt is clearly owned by Omphale, as it lines her throne, even if in the moment she is scarcely wearing it ... nor anything else. Hercules is also scarcely wearing the negligee and slippers the queen has foisted upon him, per Ovid. If the hero's club is present, Boulanger has distracted our eye from seeing it.