A Guest at the Palace | “Cleopatra” by Artemisia Gentileschi

11 May — 16 July 2023
Palazzo Cini. La Galleria, Venezia

Artemisia Gentileschi, Cleopatra, 1620, oil on canvas, 97 x 71.5 cm, Cavallini Sgarbi Foundation.

The Guest at the Palace initiative, promoted by the Art History Institute of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, was created through collaborations with some of the most prestigious Italian and international museum institutions. Conceived to temporarily enrich the museum holdings of Galleria di Palazzo Cini, the project features the exhibition of particularly important artworks granted on extraordinary loan and hosted for several months in the historic residence of Vittorio Cini, which houses the masterpieces of his remarkable art collection.

From 11 May to 16 July, the Gallery will host a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593 – Naples 1652/1653) depicting Cleopatra, from the Cavallini Sgarbi Collection: the work by the famous painter, whose activity in Venice is documented from 1626 to 1630, will be on display in the Gallery’s rooms to coincide with the loan of a group of paintings from Ferrara, from the Palazzo Cini collection, to the exhibition ‘Ercole de’ Roberti and Lorenzo Costa’, which will be held in Ferrara in early 2023.

Cleopatra

Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting Cleopatra – depicting one of the most fascinating figures of antiquity – embodies the theme of the exemplum virtutis of the heroine who chose death by the lethal bite of an asp rather than suffer public humiliation.

–

Portrayed in three-quarter profile, with her right arm stretched forward, the protagonist melodramatically displays her voluptuous nakedness, so that within this visually striking depiction, a sense of pain and heroism is overlaid with an irrepressible erotic charge.

–

The vigorous and sensual Cleopatra – in whose face one has thought to recognise the features of Artemisia herself – is seated upon a red drape which, as has been noted, is beautifully harmonised with the ivory glow of her flesh and the dark shadow of her belly, left boldly exposed.

–

The Egyptian queen’s tragic end is captured on the canvas with a theatrical gesture: in a mixture of suffering and languor, the woman brings the snake to her breast, parting her lips and raising her eyes to the sky as the beauty of her face gives way to a grimace.

Opening hours and access procedures

Open daily from 11am to 7pm, closed on Tuesdays.

All editions

May 24 – July 21, 2014

Portrait of a Young Man with a Lute by Agnolo Bronzino

September 5 – November 2, 2014

Adoration of the Shepherds by Lorenzo Lotto

June 17 – September 28, 2015

The Madonna of Pontassieve by Beato Angelico

September 19 – November 15, 2015

Capriccio with a Small Square by Francesco Guardi

April 8 – June 6, 2016