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Hercules and Omphale
Factory:
St James's Workshop
(Probably)
Maker:
Gouyn, Charles
(Probably)
Soft-paste porcelain figure group of Hercules and Omphale.
Soft-paste porcelain figure group of Hercules and Omphale. The figures are placed on a low, uneven square base, angled with one corner towards the viewer. Hercules is seated on a rock, his right leg forward with the foot on the front corner of the base, and his left leg back with the foot on the proper right corner of the base. His right arm rests across his thighs.Omphale stands on his left. Her right foot is crossed in front of her left, and she leans on his club, and bends towards him, her right arm round his neck and shoulders.
History note: Dr Bellamy Gardner; sold Sotheby's, 12 June 1941, Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Chelsea Porcelain, English Ceramics and Enamels, the property of Dr and Mrs Bellamy Gardner, p. 6, lot 10; given by the National Art Collections Fund as trustee of the R.S. Cochrane Fund.
Given by the National Art Collections Fund as trustee of the R. S. Cochrane Fund.
Height: 23.8 cm
Width: 15.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1941-06-12) by National Art Collections Fund
18th Century, Mid
George II
Circa
1749
CE
-
1759
CE
Hercules and Omphale belong to a group of about thirty soft-paste porcelain figures described as 'Girl-in-a-Swing' after the subject of one of the models. Girl-in-the-Swing figures were formerly attributed to Chelsea. Documentary evidence found in France (see Documentation, Dragesco, 1993), suggests strongly that they were made by Charles Gouyn, whose address was at the Turk's Head, Bennet Street, St James's, London, from 1735 to 1783. It is not known conclusively that this was where the figure's were made, nor who the modeller or modellers were.
The figures of Hercules and Omphale were taken from an engraving by Laurent Cars (1699-1771) of 1728, after the painting of 1724 by François Lemoyene, now in the Louvre. A model with this title was listed in the Vincennes porcelain factory's inventory of October 1752, and two different versions of it have been recorded, one closely related to the painting which could have been the inspiration for the English group. The other is a different composition in which Omphale sits beside Hercules with Cupid beside her.
probably lead
Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain
Moulding
: Greyish-white soft-paste porcelain, moulded, and glazed
Glazing (coating)
Accession number: EC.22-1941
Primary reference Number: 48026
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Hercules and Omphale" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/48026 Accessed: 2024-11-02 20:23:35
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/48026
|title=Hercules and Omphale
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 20:23:35|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/EC_22_1941.jpg"
alt="Hercules and Omphale"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Hercules and Omphale</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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