How does The Death of Cleopatra elucidate its Description?
The Death of Cleopatra depicts Cleopatra moments after her death, with Luna taking inspiration for the painting's composition from Plutarch's account of her life in his Parallel Lives series. Her corpse is found at the center of the painting, lying on a bed adorned with a golden headboard and covered with rich bedsheets, with the sheets themselves decorated with hieroglyphs and the footboard similarly adorned in gold. Cleopatra herself is bejeweled and dressed in a manner befitting that of an Egyptian queen, and smoke coming from a nearby lamp, said to contain incense, hovering above her body signifies that she had died, giving the piece a mysterious aura. While Cleopatra is clothed, the cloth above her belt and around her breasts is transparent, playing into the popular concept of an "eroticized" Cleopatra that is common in other works of the era depicting her death.Two servants in various states of collapse are also present in the painting, with the first, Iras, already dead by Cleopatra's feet. The second, the dark-skinned Charmion, is seen falling after she adjusts Cleopatra's diadem, dying shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, the asp that reportedly caused Cleopatra's death is seen by the foot of one of the room's columns, barely visible as it slithers away.The setting for The Death of Cleopatra is funerary in nature, indicated by the various decorations in the room such as the sphinx by the footboard, canopic jars by the headboard, the lamp and even the columns decorated with hieroglyphs. A statue of Anubis is also present in the background, foreshadowing what was to come.
asp Charmion Parallel Lives Death of Cleopatra Plutarch hieroglyphs Anubis Cleopatra headboard canopic jar death sphinx