(b. 1575, Calvenzano, d. 1642, Bologna)

Cleopatra with the Asp c. 1630 Oil on canvas, 113,7 x 94,9 cm Royal Collection, Windsor

The circumstances of the commission of this painting are slightly unusual. According to the Bolognese connoisseur, Malvasia, the painting was one of four half-length figures undertaken in a competitive spirit for the Venetian merchant Boselli by Palma Giovane, Niccolo Renieri, Guercino and Guido Reni. Palma Giovane seems to have acted as the intermediary in the negotiations and, since he died in 1628, it can be deduced that the related paintings date from towards the close of the 1620s or the early 1630s. After Boselli's death, the Cleopatra passed into the collection of Renieri and shortly afterwards into that of Domenico Fontana. Several copies are known.

The subject of Cleopatra with the asp was popular during the seventeenth century and Reni evolved a number of half- and three-quarter-length interpretations. The sequence begins with the depiction of a more regal Cleopatra in Potsdam (Sanssouci), dating from about 1625-26, continues with the present painting, and is developed in those in Florence (Palazzo Pitti), London (private collection) and Rome (Capitoline Museum), all of which date from the late 1630s or early 1640s. A three-quarter-length composition was again chosen by the artist for his treatment of Lucretia and the Magdalen.

In this Cleopatra Reni demonstrates his skill as a draughtsman in the foreshortening of the head seen from below, and his competence as a designer in his use of diagonals. There is also an abundance of skill in the portrayal of the expression, the modelling of the flesh, the swathes of drapery, and the use of fresh, light colours - pink and white - set against a dark background. All these elements are components of the classicism associated with the followers of Annibale Carracci, of which Reni was a leading exponent. It was a style for which he was universally admired both during his own time and in the eighteenth century, at the end of which his reputation waned. Reni's art was appreciated for its grace and finesse, the result of sound judgement and flowing brushwork.

The subject is taken from the Lives of the Caesars by Plutarch, in which Cleopatra's suicide in 30 BC is described. Following Mark Antony's defeat by Octavian at the Battle of Actium, an asp was smuggled in to Cleopatra in a basket of figs. Her death resulted from its bite. Mark Antony also committed suicide.

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Author: RENI, Guido Title: Cleopatra with the Asp Time-line: 1601-1650 School: Italian Form: painting