Cleopatra
Object Details
- Luce Center Label
- Cleopatra was one of many works that Margaret Foley completed while suffering symptoms of a brain illness. She completed the bust, along with an eight-foot fountain of three life-size children, for the Women’s Pavilion at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Cleopatra has been portrayed in literature as an ambitious queen and seducer of powerful men. Her passionate love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony is the basis for one of Shakespeare’s famous plays. The twinned snakes in Cleopatra’s crown evoke the kingdoms of Egypt as well as the queen’s manner of death. Rather than being taken prisoner, Cleopatra chose suicide, dying from the bite of a poisonous snake. Perhaps Foley was making a professional statement when she sculpted Cleopatra: the strong features and forceful gaze suggest the artist’s confidence in the power of women in a man’s world.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Paul William Garber and Philip C. Garber in honor of Sarah R. Garber
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- modeled ca. 1871, carved 1876
- Object number
- 1973.164
- Artist
- Margaret Foley, born VT? 1827-died Meran, Austria-Hungary 1877
- Sitter
- Cleopatra
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- 23 7/8 x 19 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (60.8 x 49.8 x 30.1 cm.)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2nd Floor, East Wing
- Topic
- Dress\historic\classical dress
- Animal\reptile\snake
- Portrait female\bust
- Record ID
- saam_1973.164
