After Guido Reni, Italian 1575-1652- A portrait miniature of Cleopatra; 13.2 x 10.5 cm. Note: The original by Reni is housed in the Pitti Palace, Florence (oil on canvas, 122 x 96 cm., 1635-40). The subject depicts the final moments in the life of...

After Guido Reni, Italian 1575-1652- A portrait miniature of Cleopatra; 13.2 x 10.5 cm. Note: The original by Reni is housed in the Pitti Palace, Florence (oil on canvas, 122 x 96 cm., 1635-40). The subject depicts the final moments in the life of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra as she prepares to commit suicide, as recounted by Plutarch in his Lives of the Caesars. Represented here is the dramatic moment when the asp (which has been smuggled into the room in the basket of figs depicted in the foreground) is about to deliver the lethal bite into Cleopatra's bare breast. Over the course of his career, Reni frequently turned to the subject of Cleopatra, and these versions can today be viewed in the Museo Capitolino, Rome; the Prado, Madrid; and the Royal Collection, London.
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