JOHANNES HÖFEL (Pest 1786-1864 Vienna) Tiresias Regaining his Manliness by Killing the Male of the Two Copulating Snakes.
Pen and black ink and wash with white gouache heightening on grayish brown laid paper with a prepared yellowish brown wash ground, 1807. 665x520 mm; 261/8x201/2 inches. Signed, titled and dated in ink, lower margin.
According to Greek mythology, Tiresias was changed into a woman when he killed the female of 2 copulating snakes. Seven years later, at the same location, he killed the male snake of the 2 copulating snakes in order to regain his manliness.
