Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners

Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners

Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners (Cléopâtre essayant des poisons sur des condamnés à mort) is an 1887 painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel. The art work shows Cleopatra VII reclining on a banquette and observing the effects of poisons on prisoners condemned to death, as described in Mark Antony's Plutarch's Lives.

Public Domain

unknown

Bought from the artist by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp for the Museum of the Academyers, 1887; on loan to the museum.

165 cm × 290 cm (65 in × 110 in)

Cleopatra is a typical example of 'pompier art': a theatrical Salon piece that depicts a salient moment in history with academic virtuosity, on a large format, sharply defined, technically refined and with an eye for detail. Cleopatra, famous for her power, beauty and relationships with famous Romans such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, has inspired artists for centuries. Writers, composers, painters and sculptors have retold and depicted several episodes from her turbulent life, especially in the 19th century, when the fascination with ancient Egypt reached a peak. Among other things, the tragic death of Cleopatra was a favorite theme. After the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra against the fleet of Octavian, the later Augustus, at the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra wanted to die rather than live under the Roman yoke. In the painting, the queen prepares to commit suicide. The content of the performance goes back to the Greek writer Plutarch, who describes in his biography of Mark Antony how Cleopatra, in her search for the least painful and most efficient deadly poison, has experiments carried out with snakes, among other things. Cabanel tells the story very precisely and clearly. The painting consists of two parts, with Cleopatra in the right foreground and her victims in the back left. Lazing on a divan, the queen watches in boredom as the poison is tried on prisoners. The servant who fanned her cool also watches the spectacle. In the courtyard, two palace guards carry away the body of a dead prisoner, while another convict writhes in pain. The gruesome spectacle leaves the mistress unmoved. Cabanel's Cleopatra is beautiful and ruthless, lecherous and depraved. The artist has thoroughly documented the historical setting. Richly clad Cleopatra's head is adorned with the vulture hood and uraeus cobra traditionally worn by Egyptian royalty, and her jewelry and curl-tipped sandals are also Egyptian-inspired. Her languid pose combines different perspectives, another characteristic of Ancient Egyptian art: the face is shown in profile, while the shoulders are frontal. For the representation of the palace, Cabanel based himself on images from the famous book series Description de l'Égypte (1809-1829). For example, the colonnade is a combination of what could be seen in the temples of Philae and Esna. The painter also added new and fantasized elements that emphasize the image of luxury and decadence, such as the languid leopard, the precious robe and Cleopatra's black veil. Cabanel carefully prepared his composition. The auction catalog of his studio mentions no fewer than five preparatory drawings and one small oil sketch (current storage location unknown). The Musée des Beaux-Arts – Hôtel Fabrégat in Béziers owns a beautiful figure study of Cleopatra (inv.nr. 28 (893.1.1)). A reduced copy was also offered at the auction (Collection Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, México DF).

1887