BP-catalogue2023#Final - Flipbook - Page 48
These two drawings are studies for the head of
Hercules in François Lemoyne’s Hercules and
Omphale, a large painting now in the Louvre1.
Between 1723 and 1725, Lemoyne spent eight months
in Italy with his patron François Berger (1684-1737).
He painted Hercules and Omphale for Berger in
Rome between May and July 1724. The painting
was presented at the Salon of 1725 and was a
great success. An engraving in reverse by Laurent
Cars (1699-1771) contributed to its fame throughout
Europe. Considered one of Lemoyne’s great
masterpieces, Hercules and Omphale had a profound
influence on a young generation of artists, notably
Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777), Jean-BaptisteMarie Pierre (1714-1789) and François Boucher
(1703-1770), who a few years later produced another
masterpiece on the same subject, all in force and
eroticism2.
The two drawings were probably originally on the
same sheet. Lemoyne first drew, in red and white
chalks, the head of the hero seen from three-quarters
and looking to the left. Probably dissatisfied with this
first sketch and the direction of the composition, the
artist probably folded his sheet, humidified the right
side and then applied it to the drawn part in order
to obtain a counter-proof that presents the motif, like
the hatching, in reverse. He then retouched this new
drawing, representing the head more in profile. The
head appears without any real modification in the
Louvre painting.
Three other preparatory drawings for Hercules and
Omphale, all in trois crayons, are now known, a Study
for the Body of Omphale in the British Museum3, a
Study for the Head of Omphale in the University
Art Museum, Berkeley4, and a Study for the Body of
Hercules in the Art Institute of Chicago5.