The Death of Cleopatra (1658). Guido Cagnacci (Italian, 1601-1682). Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches
The Death of Cleopatra (1658). Guido Cagnacci (Italian, 1601-1682). Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.The subject, from Plutarch’s Lives (1st century A.D.), is Cleopatra’s suicide by an asp bite following the defeat of her beloved Mark Antony at the battle of Actium. This work from the end of his Viennese period is a broader reworking of the theme of the female nude that Cagnacci had so sensually explored on several occasions. Such works were unsurprisingly popular. -- source link
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