D'APRÈS L'ANTIQUE ET UNE GRAVURE DE SIMON THOMASSIN (1654-1733), FIN DU XVIIe OU DÉBUT DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE
La mort de Cléopâtre
bronze, reposant sur un socle postérieur en bronze doré et verre noir
H. 14 cm (5¹⁄₂ in.) ; H. totale 19 cm (7¹⁄₂ in.)

A BRONZE FIGURE REPRESENTING THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA, AFTER THE ANTIQUE AND AN ENGRAVING BY SIMON THOMASSIN, LATE 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Related in Plutarch's Life of Antony, the life and famed death of Cleopatra was widely disseminated in the arts, particularly following Jacques Amyot's translation of the text in 1559. In De claris mulieribus, Boccaccio had already presented Cleopatra as one of the most famous women of the Bible, the classics, mythology and history, giving her the noblest of statuses.
Among the works representative of this popularity is a 17th-century marble from the gardens of the Château de Versailles (inv. 1850.9161), attributed to Jean-Baptiste Goy (c. 1666-1738). The sculpture shows Cleopatra at the moment of her death, her face pleading and her body delicately embraced by the snake. It seems to have been inspired by a lost Italian model, probably Cleopatra by Bacchio Bandinelli (1493-1560), who appears in an engraving by Agostino Veneziano, with whom she shares the torsion of her head, averting her gaze from her suffering, as well as the strong contrapposto emphasised by the foot raised on a platform. The Cleopatra of Versailles was also mentioned in 1724 in the Recueil des statues, groupes, fontaines, termes, vases, et autres magnifiques ornements du château et du parc de Versailles by Simon Thomassin (1654-1733). The plate presented by the famous engraver does not faithfully reproduce the statue, whereas our present bronze is perfectly identical to the engraving, except for the slight veil of modesty added.
Source of inspiration or mutual influence? Thomassin's engraving nonetheless bears considerable witness to the spread and revival of antique and classical models in the first half of the 18th century.