The Death of Cleopatra

The Death of Cleopatra depicts Cleopatra moments after her death, with Luna taking inspiration for the painting's composition from Plutarch's account of her life in his Parallel Lives series.{{Cite news | last=Zulueta | first=Lito B. | title=First exhibit of Luna's 'The Death of Cleopatra' | url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/278979/first-exhibit-lunas-death-cleopatra/ | newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer | date=November 16, 2017 | access-date=March 9, 2022}} Her corpse is found at the center of the painting, lying on a bed adorned with a golden headboard and covered with rich bedsheets,{{sfn|Valtierra Lacalle|2020|p=37}} with the sheets themselves decorated with hieroglyphs and the footboard similarly adorned in gold. Cleopatra herself is bejeweled and dressed in a manner befitting that of an Egyptian queen,{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} and smoke coming from a nearby lamp, said to contain incense,{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} hovering above her body signifies that she had died,{{Cite magazine | last=Zulueta | first=Lito B. | title=This Juan Luna painting hadn't been shown in public since 1887 – until a Singapore museum displayed it in 2017 | url=https://mabuhay.philippineairlines.com/juan-luna-the-death-of-cleopatra-in-singapore/ | magazine=Mabuhay | date=October 7, 2020 | access-date=March 9, 2022}} giving the piece a mysterious aura.{{sfn|Valtierra Lacalle|2020|p=37}} While Cleopatra is clothed, the cloth above her belt and around her breasts is transparent, playing into the popular concept of an "eroticized" Cleopatra that is common in other works of the era depicting her death.{{sfn|Valtierra Lacalle|2020|p=38}}

Two servants in various states of collapse are also present in the painting,{{sfn|Valtierra Lacalle|2020|p=37}} with the first, Iras, already dead by Cleopatra's feet.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} The second, the dark-skinned Charmion, is seen falling after she adjusts Cleopatra's diadem, dying shortly thereafter.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} Meanwhile, the asp that reportedly caused Cleopatra's death is seen by the foot of one of the room's columns,{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} barely visible as it slithers away.

The setting for The Death of Cleopatra is funerary in nature, indicated by the various decorations in the room such as the sphinx by the footboard, canopic jars by the headboard, the lamp and even the columns decorated with hieroglyphs.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|2019|p=60}} A statue of Anubis is also present in the background, foreshadowing what was to come.{{sfn|Valtierra Lacalle|2020|p=37}}

Luna first began work on The Death of Cleopatra in his then-studio on Via Margutta in Rome, where he had lived since moving to the city in 1878 with his master, Alejo Vera. A study (boceto) for what would become the final painting was created in 1880, modeled on an 1874 painting of the death of Cleopatra by the French painter Jean-André Rixens.{{Cite news | last=Matilla | first=Dexter R. | title=Salcedo Auctions to bid out 'boceto' of Luna's 'Cleopatra' | url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/326227/salcedo-auctions-to-bid-out-boceto-of-lunas-cleopatra/ | newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer | date=March 4, 2019 | access-date=March 9, 2022}} Unlike the final piece, the boceto was sold for {{Philippine peso|9.3 million}} at an auction by Salcedo Auctions in March 2019.{{Cite news | title=Luna's study of "Death of Cleopatra" sells for Php 9.3 million at auction | url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/art/03/15/19/lunas-study-of-death-of-cleopatra-sells-for-php-93-million-at-auction | publisher=ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs | date=March 15, 2019 | access-date=September 15, 2019}}

Because of the exposure, Luna received a pension scholarship at the Ayuntamiento de Manila. After the painting competition, Luna sold it for 5,000 Spanish pesetas,[http://filipino.biz.ph/history/jluna.html "The Death of Cleopatra" by Juan Luna], Juan Luna Hero of the Philippine Revolution, filipino.biz.ph the highest price for a painting at the time.[http://library.thinkquest.org/28616/nhero/luna.htm "The Death of Cleopatra" by Juan Luna] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425021614/http://library.thinkquest.org/28616/nhero/luna.htm |date=2009-04-25 }}, Juan Luna The Great Filipino Painter, library.thinkquest.com As Luna's "graduation work", The Death of Cleopatra was acquired by the Spanish governmentOcampo, Ambeth R. (Chairman, National Historical Institute of the Philippines) [http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5159790 "The Death of Cleopatra" by Juan Luna], from the article "Las Damas Romanas (Roman Maidens) by Juan Luna (The Philippines 1857–1899)", Christie's, Department Information, Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art, christies.com for one thousand duros.[http://www.lopezmuseum.org.ph/bio_luna.html "The Death of Cleopatra" (La Muerte de Cleopatra) by Juan Luna] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129074649/http://www.lopezmuseum.org.ph/bio_luna.html |date=2010-01-29 }}, lopezmuseum.org.ph

After its last appearance in 1887, the painting was again shown to the public 130 years later in 2017 at the National Gallery Singapore.{{cite web | url=https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/the-best-of-juan-luna | title=Mad or Genius? 7 of Juan Luna's Most Intriguing Works and Their Meaning }}

• Spoliarium
• España y Filipinas
• Las Damas Romanas
• The Blood Compact

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• {{Cite book | last=Rodríguez González | first=Lucía | title=Iter romanum textis et pictis: un recorrido por la historia de Roma en los textos antiguos y en las obras del Museo del Prado | trans-title=Iter romanum textis et pictis (The Woven and Painted Roman Journey): a journey through the history of Rome in old texts and in the pieces of the Museo del Prado | url=https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/63352/10/Innovaci%C3%B3n%20docente%20en%20cl%C3%A1sicas%20en%20la%20CAM_Congreso_2019_Anexo_Iter%20romanum%20textis%20et%20pictis.pdf | language=es | year=2019 | publisher=Complutense University of Madrid | access-date=March 9, 2022}}
• {{Cite journal | last=Sánchez Gómez | first=Luis Ángel | title=Indigenous art at the Philippine Exposition of 1887: Arguments for an ideological and racial battle in a colonial context | url=http://eprints.ucm.es/8526/1/Indigenous_art._PDF.pdf | journal=Journal of the History of Collections | volume=14 | issue=2 | year=2002 | page=283-294 | publisher=University of Oxford | issn=0954-6650 | doi=10.1093/jhc/14.2.283 | access-date=March 26, 2010}}
• {{Cite journal | last=Valtierra Lacalle | first=Ana | title=Mitografía y manipulación iconográfica de la muerte de Cleopatra en la pintura occidental | trans-title=Mythography and Iconographic Manipulation of the Death of Cleopatra in the Western Painting | url=https://www.e-revistes.uji.es/index.php/asparkia/article/view/4252 | language=es | journal=Asparkía. Investigació Feminista | volume=37 | year=2020 | issue=37 | publisher=Jaume I University | page=27-49 | issn=1132-8231 | eissn=2340-4795 | doi=10.6035/asparkia.2020.37.2 | s2cid=230559826 | access-date=March 9, 2022| doi-access=free | hdl=10234/194844 | hdl-access=free }}

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• Image of [http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/862-1127 The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna] at superstock.com
• Image of [https://archive.today/20130127094550/http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/cleopatra/18.html The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna] at isidore-of-seville.com
• [https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/cleopatra/6572106b-eea1-49cc-b616-78cc11aa2f97?searchid=9aeda15b-ae2d-fa4a-67d6-421808fb9931 The Death of Cleopatra] on the official website of the Museo del Prado
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/diamonds_in_the_soles_of_her_shoes/sets/72157600119021830/ Other paintings by Luna] at flickr.com

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Category:1881 paintings

Category:Paintings by Juan Luna

Category:Paintings of Cleopatra

Category:Paintings about suicide

Category:Paintings in the Museo del Prado

Category:Philippine paintings

Category:Oil on canvas paintings