Painting by the master of the Bologna academic school of painting Guido Reni “Death of Cleopatra”. The size of the painting is 124 x 94 cm, oil on canvas. Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt from the age of 51, from the Ptolemy dynasty. Clever and intelligent, Cleopatra was the mistress of Julius Caesar, after 41 years – Mark Antony. After defeat in the war with Rome and the entry into Egypt of the Roman army, Octavian committed suicide.
It is believed that after a failed attempt to seduce Octavian with her beauty, Cleopatra was poisoned by poison or, perhaps, put a poisonous snake on her chest. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt was converted to the Roman province. The image of Cleopatra was reflected in literature and art.
The tragic death of Cleopatra caused Horace to be surprised at the queen’s discouraged: “non humilis mulier,” he says of her in the famous book of Book I. The mummies of Mark Antony and Cleopatra are currently in the British Museum in London. In 1892, a fragment of a colossal double statue depicting Anthony and Cleopatra was found in Alexandria.
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