Cleopatra dissolving the Pearl in Wine
Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1725 - 1784
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1752 x 2540 mm (69 x 100 in)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Hinton Ampner, Hampshire
NT 1530100
Caption
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt sits in front of the Roman statesman Mark Antony holding a pearl between her finger and thumb, poised over a golden goblet. According to romantic legend, when he expressed his surprise at the magnificence of her banquet Cleopatra dissolved the priceless pearl in a glass of wine and drank it to demonstrate her indifference to riches.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Cleopatra dissolving the Pearl in Wine by Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784). Cleopatra seated at a table dropping a pearl into a bowl of wine watched by Mark Anthony with soldiers and figures in the background preparing the banquet. According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, Cleopatra The story of Cleopatra's pearl is told by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (9. 119-21): 'There have been two pearls that were the largest in the whole of history; both were owned by Cleopatra, the last of the Queens of Egypt—they had come down to her through the hands of the Kings of the East....In accordance with previous instructions the servants placed in front of her only a single vessel containing vinegar, the strong rough quality of which can melt pearls. She was at the moment wearing in her ears that remarkable and truly unique work of nature. Antony was full of curiosity to see what in the world she was going to do. She took one earring off and dropped the pearl in the vinegar, and when it was melted swallowed it.'
Provenance
George Ryves (1627 - 1689) of Ranston, Dorset (in the Library); Old Master Galleries ([Herner]Wengraf) Ltd (24 April 1961; £650) as Donato Creti; bequeathed by Ralph Dutton, 8th Lord Sherborne (1898–1985)
Credit line
Hinton Ampner, The Ralph Dutton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Italian (Bolognese) School, artist Donato Creti (Cremona 1671 - Bologna 1749), artist
References
Sestieri 1994 G. Sestieri, Repertorio della pittura romana della fine del Seicento e del Settecento, Turin, 1994