Date of Printing: 1720 • Medium: Copperplate Engraving (hand colored) • Subject Category: Mythological • Signed: Plate signed, Lower Left • Period Created: Enlightenment (1700 - 1799) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 20 x 16 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 33 x 19 • Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Excellent, with minor foxing • Edition Type: Limited Edition • Paper Type: Laid Paper, Watermarked • Framed: Print only
A very rare print by Annibale CARRACCI, of the mytholgical Ophale, queen of Lydia, wearing the Nemean Lion skin. In her best-known myth, she is the mistress of the hero Heracles during a year of required servitude, a scenario that offered writers and artists opportunities to explore sexual roles and erotic themes. Carracci visited this motif many times in paintings and in his etchings.
RARE and Fine engraving, printed from Carracci's original plate after the artist's death, in Germany in 1720.