Cupid Making a Bow out of the Club of Hercules
Edme Bouchardon
1750
(via)
Hercules and Omphale, François Lemoyne, 1724
The myth
Wishing to expiate the murder of one of his friends, Hercules consulted the oracle of Apollo, who advised him to enter the service of Omphale, Queen of Lydia. Although Hercules was the son of Zeus and was famed for his invincible strength, he submitted to the tasks the queen devised for him to expiate his crime. Omphale fell in love with Hercules for his strength and physical beauty, and the couple married. This tale, found in both Greek and Roman mythology, is told with a number of variations. It proved a great source of inspiration for French and Italian Mannerist painters, as well as the Venetian artists who influenced Lemoyne. François Boucher also painted a version of the same love scene.
A love of color and boundless admiration for Venetian art
François Lemoyne was the teacher of François Boucher. He was the artist who decorated the Hercules Salon in the chateau of Versailles. He paved the way for 18th-century French painting with two great artistic passions, perfectly encapsulated in this painting. These two passions, which were to have a profound influence later in the century, were a love of color - the admirers of Rubens had eventually won the argument over the use of color that had divided the Royal Academy since the late 17th century - and boundless admiration for the great Venetian artists of the 16th century.
via -Louvre
