Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners
1887 · Oil on canvas
Dimensions 165 × 290 cm
Collection: Art Whisperer
Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners (Cléopâtre essayant des poisons sur des condamnés à mort) is an 1887 painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel. It is held by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. It shows Cleopatra VII reclining on a banquette and observing the effects of poisons on prisoners condemned to death, as described in Mark Antony's Plutarch's Lives. It is considered a canonical work of 19th-century orientalism and has been used as a model for plays and early films. Cabanel had always had a taste for historical and orientalist themes and when the painting was first seen by the Parisian public he was feted by the critics and showered with honours. Several international collectors attempted to buy the painting.
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About this artwork
Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners (1887) by Alexandre Cabanel, oil on canvas, from the Art Whisperer collection.
About Alexandre Cabanel
Alexandre Cabanel was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to Diccionario Enciclopedico Salvat, Cabanel is the best representative of the L'art pompier and Napoleon III's preferred painter.
More by Alexandre Cabanel
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