Elisabetta Sirani
Italian, 1638 - 1665Cleopatra, ca. 1662-1665
On view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions37 1/4 x 29 3/4 in.
Gift of the Hurand family in memory of Dr. Ben Bryer, 2002.53
As a woman, Elisabetta Sirani was prohibited from attending the Royal Academy. Instead, she apprenticed under her father, Giovanni Andrea Sirani, assistant to the noted Baroque painter Guido Reni, and became a professional artist by the age of seventeen. Along with her sisters, she was one of a small number of women to attain that status during the Baroque period. Sirani created a significant body of work that includes over two hundred pieces before her premature death at the age of twenty-seven.
Typical of her work and its concentration on female themes, she depicted Cleopatra in at least three paintings. Here, the Queen of Egypt is shown holding a pearl over a drinking cup. The strong contrast between light and dark, which makes it seem as if a spotlight has lit up Cleopatra’s face against a dark background, marks this work as an example of the dramatic and dynamic Baroque period.
