Double page in kid skin painted in distemper; pearl stick sculpted and gold damascened, rimmed by a very light golden copper leaf and in many points rusted. The scene at whole page represents a scene of the myth of Hercules and Onfale. At the center 2 winged amorino, one representing Hercules and the other shows the love dart; on the right Hercules in feminine clothes is spinning, on the left Onfale, covered by a lion skin and rested on a bludgeon, sits on a rock. The scene is closed at the extremities by: an amorino who seems to flop on a little tree on the right, and 2 putto with butterfly wings (the soul’s metaphor), bow and quiver. Unfortunally, the fan has been adapted to the case and it is not completely open. On the retro a Fama holds a shield we are still studying . This fan, coming from the collection of Lady Holland, was given from the Viscountess of Hambleden for the funds auction of the Red Cross, occurred in London on April of 1916.
Mythological notes:
Onfale, Lidia’s queen and daughter of the river Lardano, kept for 3 years Hercules as slave. From him sshe had 4 children: Illo, Agelao, Lamo anf Tirreno. Hercules, completely undergone, was obliged to wear feminine clothes while Onfale wore the Nemea lion skin killed by Hercules in his first effort.
"Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail."
Leonardo Da Vinci
