According to Greek myth, the hero Hercules was sold to Queen Omphale as a slave. He was forced to spin yarn while Omphale wore his lion skin and carried his olive-wood club. Vaccaro’s innovative technique combines heavy contours and thickly applied bodycolour in this figure study.

Pierre-Jean Mariette, Paris (1694-1774), L.1852; his estate sale, Basan (Paris), 15 November 1775 - 30 January 1776, probably part of lot 760; purchased there either by Basan or by 'Strange'; Count Nils Barck, Paris and Madrid (1820-1896), L.1959; probably Charles Philippe, marquis de Chennevières-Pointel (1820-1899); his sale, Paris, 26 December 1882, lot 144; John Postle Heseltine, London (1843-1929) [as per Oppenheimer's catalogue]; Henry Oppenheimer, London (1859-1932); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 13 July 1936, lot 203 (with 4 others); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), for £2.1 (Witt's valuation on his index card, out of the 11 guineas, or £11.55 spent on the whole lot); Witt Bequest 1952

In Basan's sale, lot 760 includes 2 lots done in Indian ink and white heightening, but only describes one of the scenes; the catalogue digitised on Brill from the RKD is annotated with the buyers, which indicates that lots 758-761 were purchased by ‘Strange’. Rosenberg 2019, however, says that those 4 lots were purchased by Basan.

In the file it says Heseltine’s mark is on the verso, but it is not; they may have meant the verso of the mount, now missing, or it could be a mistake, because Heseltine was listed as part of the provenance in the Christie’s catalogue so perhaps that’s where his name came from.

Special Display - Neapolitan drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 06/10/2011-26/01/2012

Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo Painting, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham, 01/06/1962-12/08/1962

Rosenberg, Paul, Les dessins de la Collection Mariette: écoles italienne et espagnole. 4 vols, Paris 2019
vol. III, no. I 2079 on p. 1222
ill. on p. 1222
given in full to Nicola Vaccaro

Izzo, Mariaclaudia, Nicola Vaccaro (1640-1709) : un artista a Napoli tra barocco e Arcadia, Todi, 2009
p. 255, no. D5
ill.
reattributed to Nicola Vaccaro, son of Andrea

Splendeurs baroques de Naples: dessins des XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles, Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, 2006-2007
under no. 22
fig. 1 under no. 22 ...More

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Pierre-Jean Mariette (L.1852); lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Nils Barck (L.1959)? (does not exactly match the mark as seen on Lugt).