The suicide of Cleopatra: Roman soldiers discover Cleopatra lying dead on her bed with the asp wriggling on her left arm and her dead maid lying next to the bed. Line engraving by E. Smith after D. Zampieri, il Domenichino.

  • Domenichino, 1581-1641.
Date:
1800-1899
Reference:
42963i
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view The suicide of Cleopatra: Roman soldiers discover Cleopatra lying dead on her bed with the asp wriggling on her left arm and her dead maid lying next to the bed. Line engraving by E. Smith after D. Zampieri, il Domenichino.

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The suicide of Cleopatra: Roman soldiers discover Cleopatra lying dead on her bed with the asp wriggling on her left arm and her dead maid lying next to the bed. Line engraving by E. Smith after D. Zampieri, il Domenichino. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Description

Cleopatra VII (69 BC-30 BC), Egyptian Queen, lover of Julius Caesar and later the wife of Mark Antony. After the Roman armies of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves, and Egypt fell under Roman domination. Rather than be dragged through the city in which she had been borne as a queen, she killed herself, possibly by means of an asp, symbol of divine royalty.

Publication/Creation

1800-1899

Physical description

1 print : line engraving, with etching ; image 23.3 x 31 cm

Contributors

Lettering

The death of Cleopatra. Domenichino pinxit. E. Smith sculpsit.

Reference

Wellcome Collection 42963i

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