The suicide of Cleopatra: Cleopatra is standing next to her bed grasping the tail of the asp with her right hand. Line engraving by G. Rivera after F. Pieraccini after a painting by Guido Reni.

  • Reni, Guido, 1575-1642.
Reference:
42960i
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view The suicide of Cleopatra: Cleopatra is standing next to her bed grasping the tail of the asp with her right hand. Line engraving by G. Rivera after F. Pieraccini after a painting by Guido Reni.

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Credit

The suicide of Cleopatra: Cleopatra is standing next to her bed grasping the tail of the asp with her right hand. Line engraving by G. Rivera after F. Pieraccini after a painting by Guido Reni. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

The original painting shows Cleopatra holding the asp in her left hand, the inconsistency is presumably due to the reversal of the original design in the engraving process

Cleopatra VII (69 BC-30 BC), Egyptian Queen, lover of Julius Caesar and later the wife of Mark Antony. After the Roman armies of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves, and Egypt fell under Roman domination. Rather than be dragged through the city in which she had been borne as a queen, she killed herself, possibly by means of an asp, symbol of divine royalty.

Publication/Creation

[Florence?] : [publisher not identified]

Physical description

1 print : line engraving ; image 25.8 x 20.7 cm

Lettering

A S.S.R.M. Carlo Alberto Re di Sardegna di Cipro e di Gerusalemme, Duca di Savoja e di Genova, Principe di Piemonte ec. ec. ec. Guido Reni dip. Franc.co. Pieraccini dis. Gio. Rivera inc. Lettering continues

Reference

Wellcome Collection 42960i

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