Shop art print and framed art   Cleopatra by John William Waterhouse

Cleopatra", i.e. Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, commissioned for an exhibition designed by the weekly magazine The Graphic with twenty-one paintings of Shakespeare's heroines in mind, was painted by John William Waterhouse in 1888. For its time, it differed from most Victorian works in that instead of showing a modest, unassuming woman, it actually showed a 'femme fatale' resting on a chair protected by a leopard skin, challenging the viewer of the work with a gaze that was both seductive and venomous. At the time of the initial exhibition, it was accompanied by a quotation from Shakespeare: "Where is my serpent of the old Nile? That's what he calls me". In 1889, the original paintings were auctioned at Christie's and Cleopatra was sold to a London dealer for ninety guineas. It was then lost (Trippi said it was "untraceable"), before being discovered in a cabin in the Colorado Rockies. More than a century later, in June 2003, it was auctioned again by Christie's for an estimated £300,000 to £500,000, but the reserve was not [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the pre-raphaelism style.

 

« Cleopatra » is kept at Private Collection.

 

Find the full description of Cleopatra by John William Waterhouse on Wikipedia.