The Banquet of Cleopatra (Tiepolo)

The Banquet of Cleopatra
ArtistGiovanni Battista Tiepolo
Year1744
TypeOil paint on canvas
Dimensions250.3 by 357 centimetres (98.5 in × 140.6 in)
LocationNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The Banquet of Cleopatra is a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo completed in 1744.[1] It is now in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.[2][3]

The subject of the painting is a supposed historical banquet, hosted by Cleopatra for Marc Antony, and described by both Pliny's Natural History (9.58.119–121) and Plutarch's Lives (Antony 25.36.1). During this banquet Cleopatra takes an expensive pearl and dissolves it in her wine, prior to imbibing the drink.[4][5]

This is the first of three large paintings of the subject by Tiepolo. In addition to these, the much smaller oil studies or modelli for each of the larger paintings survive.[6]

Tiepolo's fresco version for the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia, Venice (slightly trimmed)

Tiepolo returned to the subject a few years later at the Palazzo Labia in Venice with his frescoes on the theme of Mark Antony and Cleopatra: the Banquet was paired with a Meeting of Cleopatra and Mark Antony and surrounding scenes of gods and attendants. Two further large canvases by Tiepolo of these scenes are in the Arkhangelskoye Palace near Moscow (1747; 338 × 600 cm).[7]

Tiepolo typically made oil sketch modelli with varying degrees of finish to show his composition and, perhaps, submit it for approval to the client. The modello for the Melbourne painting is in the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris, and was owned by Count Francesco Algarotti until his death.[8][9] There is a small (46.3 by 66.7 centimetres (18.2 in × 26.3 in)) oil sketch by Tiepolo in the National Gallery, London, which may relate to the painting in the Palazzo Labia,[10] although it differs considerably from that work; it is more usually regarded as a study for the Archangelskoye painting. There is another small work in oils in the collection of Stockholm University in Sweden, a modello for the Palazzo Labia composition, and there are a number of preparatory drawings in various collections.[11]

  1. ^ "Tiepolo: Cleopatra's Banquet". ABC Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 November 2003. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  2. ^ Gill, Raymond (12 June 2010). "The finding of a Tiepolo masterpiece". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  3. ^ Museum page
  4. ^ "Tiepolo, Theater, and the Notion of Theatricality", Keith Christiansen. The Art Bulletin Vol. 81, No. 4 (Dec., 1999), pp. 665–692.
  5. ^ Gill, Raymond (11 June 2010). "The finding of a Tiepolo masterpiece". The Age. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  6. ^ Christiansen, 152–153
  7. ^ Anderson, 209
  8. ^ Christiansen, 152
  9. ^ Anderson, 201
  10. ^ "The Banquet of Cleopatra – 1740s, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo". National Gallery. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  11. ^ Anderson, 201, 209; Christiansen, 150–152