Tommaso Costa Cleopatra greeting Antony 1773 watercolor British Museum |
Charles-Joseph Natoire Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra ca. 1753-57 wash drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Claude Vignon Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra ca. 1630 oil on panel Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Francesco Trevisani Banquet of Cleopatra and Antony ca. 1702 oil on canvas Galleria Spada, Rome |
Giacinto Gimignani Cleopatra drops a pearl into a goblet of wine before Marc Antony 1647 etching British Museum |
Leandro Bassano Feast of Antony and Cleopatra ca. 1590 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Jan de Bray Banquet of Cleopatra (costume portrait of the artist and his family) 1652 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |
René-Antoine Houasse Antony and Cleopatra 1680 oil on plaster ceiling Château de Versailles |
Jacob Jordaens Cleopatra's Feast 1653 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Anonymous Flemish Makers Feast of Cleopatra ca. 1650-1700 tapestry (silk and wool) Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Thomas Stothard Intemperance - Mark Antony and Cleopatra (sketch for staircase decoration at Burghley House, Northamptonshire) ca. 1802 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
Antony and Cleopatra
On Egypt sleeping under sky of brass
The twain gazed wistfully from terrace high,
And watched the Flood, through Delta rolling nigh,
Toward Sais or Bubastis slowly pass.
The Roman felt beneath his thick cuirass
Like captive soldier stilling infant's cry,
On his triumphant bosom swooning lie
Her form voluptuous in his close embrace.
Turning her pallid head between his arms
Toward him made mad by perfume's conquering charms,
She raised her mouth and crystalline, fond eye;
And o'er her bent, the Chieftain did behold
In her great orbs, starry with dots of gold,
Only a boundless sea where galleys fly.
– Edward Robeson Taylor (1897), translating the sonnet below
Tous deux ils regardaient, de la haute terrasse,
L'Egypte s'endormir sous un ciel étouffant
Et le Fleuve, à travers le Delta noir qu'il fend,
Vers Bubaste ou Saїs rouler son onde grasse.
Et le Romain sentait sous la lourde cuirasse,
Soldat captif berçant le sommeil d'un enfant,
Ployer et défaillir sur son coeur triomphant
Le corps voluptueux que son étreinte embrasse.
Tournant sa tête pâle entre ses cheveux bruns
Vers celui qu'enivraient d'invincibles parfums,
Elle tendit sa bouche et ses prunelles claires;
Et sur elle courbé, l'ardent Imperator
Vit dans ses larges yeux étoilés de points d'or
Toute une mer immense où fuyaient des galères.
– José-Maria de Heredia (1893)
Alessandro Turchi Death of Cleopatra (with corpse of Marc Antony in foreground) ca. 1640 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
Jean-Eugène-Charles Alberti Proculeius preventing Cleopatra from stabbing herself (with corpse of Marc Antony in background) 1810 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
Gillian Ayres Antony and Cleopatra 1982 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |