Iole Convincing Heracles to Spin Wool

From the Getty Museum record

Iole was betrothed to the legendary hero Heracles, but after her father cut off their engagement, Heracles murdered her father and carried off Iole. Iole, devastated by the death of her father, plotted revenge against Heracles. She convinced the hero to remove the emblems of his power—the pelt of the Nemean lion, his club, his wreath and quiver—and to instead don more feminine apparel. Next, she had him take up the traditionally female task of spinning wool while telling the tale of his labors to her ladies in waiting. Iole’s humiliation of Heracles is recorded by Boccaccio, the author of *Concerning Famous and Noble Women*, as having caused the hero great shame. Although the artist of this image has not depicted Heracles in the feminine fashion worn by Iole on the right, but rather in the typical masculine garments of the sixteenth century, he does include the detail of Heracles holding a distaff to spin wool. Concerns over men’s fashion, particularly ostentatious ornamentation, were a perennial issue during the periods in which this manuscript was copied and then illuminated. The description of Heracles’s shame at being emasculated demonstrates the significance placed on the performance of one’s gender through both clothing and specific labors in the late medieval period.