RENI, Guido
(b. 1575, Calvenzano, d. 1642, Bologna)

Cleopatra

1635-40
Oil on canvas, 122 x 96 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

The painting was sent as a present to Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici with a letter of January 4th, 1640 by Marchese Cospi of Bologna. This very beautiful painting belongs to the last period of Guido Reni, and in its very delicate, pale, refined colour especially, it appears as "one of the most striking testimonies of the surprising poetical evolution of Reni in the last years of his life " (Cavalli). Being celebrated, it was carried off to Paris by the Napoleonic army from 1799 to 1815.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes):
Jules Massenet: Cleopatra, Cleopatra's aria