the new emotional blackmailer's handbook

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

an ANISH KAPOOR scrapbook ...

https://serenademagazine.art/anish-kapoor-returns-to-venice-with-a-monumental-exhibition-at-palazzo-manfrin/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor

... to be continued ... as & whenever ....

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Jan Gossaert ... his self portrait ... and some others

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Gossaert

... to be continued ... as and when ...

Thursday, May 14, 2026

masks ... part 14 ... part XIV ...

... to be continued ... as & when ...

OMPHALE ... a strong woman who is given control of Hercules for a year ... i especially like Rubens' version of their relationship, so i asked ChatGPT if omphale's character alters much during the various retellings of her story ... rubens' version is the last of these samples ...

does the character of OMPHALE change much as her myth is retold ?

Yes. Omphale shifts quite a bit depending on who is telling the story, when it’s being retold, and what the author wants the myth to emphasize.

At the core of the myth, she is the queen of Lydia who temporarily owns or commands Heracles after he is sold into servitude. The famous image is the reversal of gender roles: Heracles wears women’s clothing and spins wool, while Omphale may wear his lion skin or carry his club. But the meaning of that setup changes dramatically across retellings.

In early Greek traditions

In older Greek sources, Omphale is often portrayed as:

powerful and authoritative,
sexually confident,
politically legitimate as a queen,
and capable of controlling even the greatest hero.

The tone is not always mocking. Some versions treat the relationship as transformative for Heracles: his servitude becomes part of his purification after killing Iphitus. Omphale’s authority is real, not just comic.

Ancient authors sometimes frame her as clever, cultured, and civilized in contrast to Heracles’ violence.

In Classical and Roman retellings

Later writers, especially Roman ones such as Ovid, often lean harder into:

eroticism,
comedy,
humiliation,
and gender inversion.

The image of Heracles cross-dressing becomes a spectacle. Omphale can appear flirtatious, teasing, or manipulative rather than simply regal. The myth becomes a way to explore anxieties about masculinity, desire, and power.

Roman art especially loved the visual contrast:

the hyper-masculine hero made “soft,”
and the queen adopting heroic symbols.

In medieval and Renaissance interpretations

Omphale’s character changes again because later European writers often moralized classical myths.

She could become:

a warning about female temptation,
an example of male weakness,
or a symbol of lust overcoming reason.

In some Renaissance paintings and literature, she is portrayed almost as a dominatrix figure controlling Hercules. The emphasis shifts away from her political status and toward the danger of feminine power.

In modern interpretations

Contemporary retellings tend to reinterpret Omphale more sympathetically or psychologically.

Modern classicists, novelists, and feminist readings often see her as:

a rare example of female authority in myth,
a challenge to rigid gender roles,
or part of a more reciprocal relationship with Heracles.

Some modern works treat the period with Omphale as one of the few times Heracles learns restraint, domesticity, or emotional vulnerability rather than constant conquest.

There’s also more interest now in how the myth destabilizes binary ideas of masculinity and femininity instead of simply mocking role reversal.

What stays consistent

Across most versions, a few elements remain stable:

Omphale is powerful enough to command Heracles.
The relationship involves reversal or exchange of social/gender symbols.
Her presence temporarily transforms the hero’s identity.

But how that transformation is interpreted changes a lot:

purification,
humiliation,
erotic play,
political allegory,
satire,
or gender critique.

So Omphale herself evolves from sovereign queen, to seductive controller, to moral warning, to potentially subversive or empowering figure depending on the cultural moment retelling the myth.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Oskar Zwintscher ... possibly forgotten because most of his work was inaccessible during the communist tyranny of east germany ... died prematurely aged 46 from pneumonia in 1916 ...

Monday, May 11, 2026

the medici-riccardi horse head ... subject to many indignities in the distant past ... now lovingly restored, but with many "cuts & bruises" ...

in 1672, when the head was already two thousand years old, one of the grandest of the medicis had the horse's topknot made into a water spout ... and so the whole thing then got covered in an accumulation of limescale, inside and out ... and then later on, somebody hacked off the limescale with a chisel, you can see the marks all over, especially around the horse's nostrils ... etc etc

https://www.getty.edu/publications/artistryinbronze/conservation-and-analysis/39-salvioli/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDV3SpsW08Q&t=1854s

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Rubens' BIRTH OF THE MILKY WAY ... Rubens and Galileo were good friends ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_the_Milky_Way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens

https://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/star-myths.html

Rubens and Galileo were friends.  That didn't stop Rubens from painting this nearly thirty years after Galileo was using a telescope to start making sense of the sky ...

AI Overview               
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) were contemporaries who moved in similar intellectual circles in Italy, with Rubens admiring the astronomer's scientific breakthroughs. 

Rubens, a Flemish Baroque painter, incorporated Galileo's astronomical discoveries into his art and featured him in his circle of acquaintances.

Key Connections Between Rubens and Galileo:Friendship and Influence: Rubens developed a network of friendships with intellectuals in Italy, including Galileo, with whom he likely shared a connection through the humanist circle of Gian Vincenzo Pinelli.

Portraiture: Rubens is credited with painting a portrait of Galileo around 1630. Furthermore, Rubens included a figure believed to be Galileo in his work, Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua.

Artistic Representation of Astronomy: Rubens incorporated Galileo’s discoveries into his paintings, such as depicting the planet Saturn with three bodies, reflecting Galileo's astronomical findings. His Apocalyptic Woman includes a depiction of the moon based on Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius.

Scientific Interest: Both men had interests in the study of light and color, and both were deeply involved with the works of the ancient writer Seneca.

Rubens' work acts as a visual bridge between the Scientific Revolution and Baroque art, showcasing the era's fascination with new astronomical discoveries.

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Luca Giordano ... RUBENS PAINTING AN ALLEGORY OF PEACE ... Rubens ... MINERVA PROTECTING PEACE FROM MARS ... and Rubens ... THE CONSEQUENCES OF WAR ... i am not sure if the painting shown on Rubens' easel is a copy or a fiction ... my initial efforts to identify it have been inconclusive

it needs to be said at the start ... this was painted when rubens had already been dead for nearly twenty years ... so i'm guessing its an inspired work of "fandom" ... it was painted in Italy when luca giordano was only 25 or 26 years old