Cleopatra, Mark Antony and the Pearl
Giovanni Battista Pittoni the younger (Venice 1687 - Venice 1767)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1736 - 1799
Materials
Oil on canvas (oval)
Measurements
1375 x 1015 mm
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Basildon Park, Berkshire (Accredited Museum)
On show at
Basildon Park, West Berkshire, London and South East, National Trust
NT 266903
Caption
Queen Cleopatra holds a banquet to which Mark Antony is invited. When he expresses surprise at how lavish the banquet is, Cleopatra dissolves a priceless pearl in a glass of wine and drinks it to demonstrate her indifference to riches. In Pittoni's painting, Mark Antony, wearing armour and a red cloak, holds the bowl into which the fair-skinned Cleopatra is about to drop the pearl.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas (oval), Cleopatra, Mark Antony and the Pearl by Giovanni Battista Pittoni (1687-1767). late 1730s. Cleopatra on left with pale blue dress and yellow cloak, looks at pearl held up in left hand. Antony in armour, helmet and red cloak proffers a dish, with pleading look. Page at bottom left holds out salver and looks back, while spectator on right regards pearl. Moulded gilt frame. Pair to NT/BAS/P/16.
Provenance
Brunner Gallery, Paris 1921; possibly Baron M. Lazzaroni, Nice, 1933; Pardo, 1951; Colnaghi, 1962; presented by Lord and Lady Iliffe to the National Trust, together with the house and grounds of Basildon Park, and a substantial part of their collection of paintings, in 1979
Credit line
Basildon Park, The Iliffe Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Giovanni Battista Pittoni the younger (Venice 1687 - Venice 1767) , artist
References
Boccazzi 1978 F. Zara Boccazzi, Pittoni, 1978, no. 269, pp. 186-87