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# The Death of Cleopatra

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

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                      -     DetailsRelatedObject Details- Artist
- Edmonia Lewis, born Greenbush (now Rensselaer), NY 1844-died London, England 1907
- Sitter
- Cleopatra
- Luce Center Label
- Cleopatra (69 - 30 BCE), the legendary queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BCE, is often best known for her dramatic suicide, allegedly from the fatal bite of a venomous snake. Here, Edmonia Lewis portrayed Cleopatra in the moment after her death, wearing her royal attire, in majestic repose on a throne. The identical sphinx heads flanking the throne represent the twins she bore with Roman general Marc Antony, while the hieroglyphics on the side have no meaning. Lewis was working at a time when Neoclassicism was a popular artistic style that favored classical, Biblical, or literary themes—thus Cleopatra was a common subject. Unlike her contemporaries who often depicted an idealized Cleopatra merely contemplating suicide, Lewis showed the queen’s death more realistically, after the asp’s venom had taken hold—an attribute viewed as “ghastly” and “absolutely repellant” in its day (William J. Clark, Great American Sculpture, 1878). Despite this, the piece was first exhibited to great acclaim at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 and critics raved that it was the most impressive American sculpture in the show. Not long after its debut, however, Death of Cleopatra was presumed lost for almost a century—appearing at a Chicago saloon, marking a horse’s grave at a suburban racetrack, and eventually reappearing at a salvage yard in the 1980s. The Museum has an online exhibit that documents the statue’s storied history and conservation.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois
- carved 1876
- Object number
- 1994.17
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- 63 x 31 1/4 x 46 in. (160.0 x 79.4 x 116.8 cm.)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, W310
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Figure female\full length
- Animal\reptile\snake
- Egyptian
- Portrait female
- State of being\death\suicide
- History\ancient\Egypt
- Record ID
- saam_1994.17
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7c940ae99-f92a-455c-bfe5-5b5f09e4864b
Related Content-                    African American Artists and Selected Works                 
-                    American Women Artists                 
-                    Edmonia Lewis                 
-                    Open Access Highlights                 
-                    Edmonia Lewis:Edmonia Lewis                 
  CC0Creative Commons - No Rights Reserved iconUsage Conditions Apply>download icon>          This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions).  You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian.  For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.        International media Interoperability FrameworkIIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.View manifestView in Mirador ViewerExpand to view image×                             Footer logo      
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