Cleopatra in 19th Century Art

Paintings by Gerôme, Cabanel, Moreau and Rixens

Aug 13, 2009 Meg Nola

Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, as depicted in works by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Alexandre Cabanel, Gustave Moreau and Jean André Rixens.

Cleopatra VII was born to a dynasty of pharaohs in 69 B.C., her desire for power so strong that her own brother, Ptolemy XIII, made her leave Egypt so that he could rule alone. She used her womanly wiles and hid herself in a rug, which was then delivered to Roman leader Julius Caesar; Caesar eventually became romantically involved with Cleopatra and helped her to reclaim the Egyptian throne. Cleopatra gave birth to Caesar’s son and later took Rome’s warrior general Mark Antony as her lover, bearing Antony three children in an intense liaison with fateful consequences.

Cleopatra was ruthless toward her rivals, strategic in her love affairs, and possessed of great magnetism and charm. And while it is unlikely that the real Cleopatra actually resembled the women who later posed in her image in numerous paintings, her legendary life and tragic death have inspired artists through the centuries. Furthermore, Cleopatra’s perceived exotic beauty generally excluded blondes and redheads and instead gave many dark-haired muses the chance to be immortalized on canvas.

Jean-Leon Gerôme’s Cleopatra and Caesar

Cleopatra offered a perfect theme for the richly-detailed, Eastern-influenced style of Orientalist painters, and for the lush beauty of Academic and Neo-classical artists. Orientalist-inclined Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1866 Cleopatra and Caesar shows Cleopatra emerging from the carpet she had hidden herself in so that she could meet Julius Caesar. In the painting, Cleopatra is the focal point while Caesar is diminished, seated at a desk and beholding the woman who will change the course of his life.

Caesar was at that point in his fifties, while Cleopatra was in her twenties and in need of Caesar’s power. Caesar’s armies brought about Ptolemy XIII’s death and Caesar hoped for an expansion of his own influence through Cleopatra, but the Romans never approved of the Caesar-Cleopatra alliance. Caesar would be assassinated in 44 B.C., and Cleopatra went back to Alexandria to rule in Egypt with Caesarion, her child with Caesar.

Alexandre Cabanel’s Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners

French Academic painter Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) painted a chilling portrait of an enthroned Cleopatra ruling without compassion. Cabanel’s 1887 Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners shows the queen, her maid and a pet leopard seated alongside a scene of men dying in agony from lethal doses. The Egyptians were advanced in the use of certain medicines and poisons, and Cleopatra here is perhaps adding to her own knowledge for the future elimination of rivals — or even preparing for a quick suicide method.

Gustave Moreau’s Cleopatra

Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) was seemingly intrigued by the wicked women of history and included such famed femmes fatales as Salome and Bathsheba in his works. Moreau's Cleopatra sits calmly yet seductively amid a dreamlike backdrop, a full moon floating behind her. She seems smoothly indifferent, naked enough to be revealing yet not totally nude or exposing her whole self. Additionally, as in the above-noted works of Gérôme and Cabanel, Cleopatra is not a mere decorative object but gives a definite aura of intelligence.

Rixens’ The Death of Cleopatra

With the rise of Octavian and the fall of Mark Antony, Cleopatra’s reign came to an end. After a disastrous battle near Alexandria, Antony was falsely informed that Cleopatra was dead and stabbed himself. He died with her in her private chambers and Cleopatra planned for her own death soon after.

The famed story is that Cleopatra was bitten by an asp and died from the snake’s venom in 30 B.C. This ending has been disputed, however, with the argument that Cleopatra knew a lot about poisons and probably would have preferred a fast dose as opposed to the slower demise from a snake bite.

Nonetheless, Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra has Cleopatra inquiring about the "pretty worm" of the Nile or a snake with a fatal bite, this scene immortalized in Eugene Delacroix‘s 1838 Cleopatra and The Peasant. In a painting by fellow French Orientalist Jean André Rixens (1846-1924), the story of the asp is perpetuated, with a stunning glimpse of the dead Cleopatra and her also mortally-bitten handmaiden, while the basket of figs now lies on the floor of the Egyptian queen’s final retreat.

Sources

The copyright of the article Cleopatra in 19th Century Art in Modern Art History is owned by Meg Nola. Permission to republish Cleopatra in 19th Century Art in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Caesar and Cleopatra (Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1866)	Cleopatra Testing Poisons (A. Cabanel, 1887)	Cleopatra (Gustave Moreau, ca. 1887)
The Death of Cleopatra (Jean Andre Rixens, 1874)