What is one to make of this?
I
suppose it may
be the earliest “formal” portrait of a tranny
.
.
After
killing a friend in a moment of insanity, Hercules sought the counsel of the
Oracle of Delphi and tried to steal Apollo’s stool, the kind one
sits on. His sentence: to serve as a slave to Omphale, Queen of
Lydia, in drag, of course.
The artist Bartholomeus Spranger’s sweetly touching rendering of a scene from their time together, Hercules and Omphale, c.1585, captures a moment of tenderness sure to lighten the loins of any of my followers: the abject strongman in a pink frock sits on an elaborately carved low chair, an old hag scolding him over his shoulder, a sneering putti above, and Omphale standing seductively in front of him, the skin of the Nemean lion slung over one shoulder and holding his favored weapon – his club. Oh, girlfriend: don’t you just wish she would trick you out and take control of your club, however meager?
Spranger’s work (why do I keep
thinking Springer? Or Schwinger?) certainly isn’t a formal
portrait. I mean, Hercules didn’t sit for it, now did he? No, he
didn’t. But just imagine the shame he’d feel now, millennia
later, seeing himself in his pink frock on the Internet. I don’t
know why, but he reminds me of so very many people I know.
Who knew that Hercules in pink would be
such a role model?
And, speaking of role models...
Omphale, regal, statuesque--looks to me like she knew just how to make good use of that club.
I would like to mention here that Omphale eventually ended up
You see, hope really does spring eternal.
Ms. Londoncalling
signing out.
Ms. Londoncalling
signing out.
2 comments:
The remnants of a Jesuit Liberal Arts education remind me that Heracles was bound in slavery to Omphale for one year. It was never disclosed, or at least it didn't survive what she did with him. But, i believe The Mistress is correct in assuming it probably involved submission, crossdressing, gender role reversal and humiliation. Even the great Heracles (or Hercules) knew his place. i feel like Heracles and bind myself to Mistress!! Let the Greek begin!!
n (remember me?)
How could I forget you! We have shared some very intimate moments in the most unlikeliest places (-:
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