Focus on this artwork and explore the Critical reception.
The American Egyptomania project at George Mason University describes the painting as a classic example of Egyptomania, containing "sex, slavery, nudity, and decadence".  Lucy H. Hooper called it a companion piece to Gérôme's earlier work, Phryne before the Areopagus (1861). The painting was one of two notable depictions of Cleopatra from the nineteenth century along with Cleopatra and the Peasant (1838) by Eugène Delacroix.
Egyptomania Cleopatra and the Peasant Cleopatra Phryne before the Areopagus Eugène Delacroix George Mason University