Portrait of a Woman as Cleopatra

Description Aside from the curiosity of this wealthy Venetian woman choosing to have herself portrayed as Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, just as she is about to apply the poisonous asp to her breast, this painting is a remarkably interesting view of a Venetian bedroom in the later 1500s. The woman's platform shoes and the "Sansovino" type mirror on the rear wall have drawn the most attention. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue Italian Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery, no. 282, pp. 410-411. For another Walters paintings featuring a woman wearing platform shoes, see Dirck de Vries's, Venetian Kitch Interior, 37.2651.

Provenance Valentino Benefatto, Venice, prior to 1856 [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Count of Chambord, Palace Vendramin, Venice [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; F. Ongania, Venice [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [Catalogue III, 1909, no. 68]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911