A NEOCLASSICAL CLEOPATRA

A NEOCLASSICAL CLEOPATRA

by Joan K. Yanni

The painting came on the European market at a time when the Gallery was interested in finding a 17^th-century Neoclassical work to fill a void in its collection. Clearly this was a history painting, and a Neoclassical one at that. Its vivid colors, dramatic subject, and attention to detail attested to that fact.  But virtually nothing was known about the painting other than the artist’s name, written in small letters at the bottom right of the painting: BDuvivier 1789. What was its story? 

A Neoclassical Cleopatra

Examine the clues. The dominant men are soldiers—Romans, judging from their costumes. And the man in the foreground, with the elaborate helmet and sandals, is their leader. The man lying on the gilt bed is dying or dead—his grayish skin and the wound under his breast, without blood, suggests dead. 

Now look at the expressive hands in the painting. The hand of the woman at the center of the picture gets our attention immediately.  She is in distress; her fingers are spread out as though to ward off a blow or plead for help. The women in the background are covering their faces with their hands and fearfully slinking into the shadows; the man on the right, startled, has just knocked over a pitcher. These people look like servants. The hands of the Romans are strong, purposeful. One carries a sword; the other holds the woman’s arm. Look more closely and you will see a dagger in her hand. (Donald Rosenthal in his article in Porticus tells us that the artist was focused on the hands. Infra red photographs show that the central woman’s left forearm was moved from “an extended to an upright position to create greater central dramatic focus,” and the dying man’s “left arm and hand were moved to produce a more expressive pose.”)

Now examine the large basin on the floor near the body. Made of silver, it is decorated with gold Egyptian ibis figures.  What historical events involved both Rome and Egypt? Was the man on the right washing the body? And who is the  woman?  Is that a jeweled diadem or small crown on her head? It is, and she is Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. The man is Mark Antony, who went to Egypt to conquer, but fell in love with Cleopatra, married her, and deserted Rome. The Romans under Octavian Caesar have come to reclaim Egypt.

The happenings in the painting are not easy to identify because they are rarely pictured. Cleopatra has often been shown holding the dying Antony in her arms, but Cleopatra’s capture by the Romans is rarely the subject of a painting.  The incident is described by the Greek historian Plutarch in his Life of Mark Antony. As he tells it, after being defeated by Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE, Antony and Cleopatra fled back to Egypt where Cleopatra locked herself in her “monument,” a fortified tomb. Antony, falsely told that Cleopatra had committed suicide, stabbed himself. He was brought to Cleopatra by his soldiers, and then died in her arms. As the Romans broke into the monument, Cleopatra attempted to stab herself, but the Roman Proculeius stopped her. And this is the moment pictured in our painting.

                                                         

  

As is well known, Cleopatra did manage to commit suicide, legend says through the bite of a poisonous asp (brought to her

by her servant in a basket of lunch?) The painting is fascinating, and tour groups, who have seen Romans on television or in the movies, enjoy playing detective, just as the curators at the Gallery did. Once the characters had been identified, the painting was named  Cleopatra Captured by Roman  Soldiers after the Death of Mark Amthony (84.40)

Johannes Berdardus Duvivier, called Bernard Duvivier, (1762-1837) was born in Bruges (Flanders). He first studied at the Academy in Bruges, where he painted genre scenes, seascapes, and allegorical themes. He went next to Paris, studying at the Paris Academy with Joseph-Benoit Suvée, whose archaeological settings and dramatic scenes were a marked influence on the younger painter, as were the works of Jacques Louis David.. In 1785 Duvivier  received second prize in the Prix de Rome competition for The Death of Camilla, a historical composition that showed the artist’s great promise.

Though Duvivier won a series of prizes, he attempted to win the Grand Prix three times, but was not successful. His works had captured the eye of a benefactor, however, who funded three years of study in Rome, beginning in 1789, the year the Cleopatra was painted and the beginning of the French Revolution. He remained there until 1793, then set out on a trip to Florence, Bologna, Venice and Milan with three friends.  He returned to Paris in 1796, when the Revolution had become less threatening, and became a French citizen.

Duvivier exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1793 to 1827, and showed drawings after famous works by Raphael, Correggio and Leonardo. He soon returned to painting, concentrating on a small picture based on Homer, Hector Mourned by the Trojans and His Family. A Danish critic praised the draftsmanship, expression, and color of the work, and noted that that the small painting (24x31 inches) contained forty–six well executed figures.

In his later career, Duvivier moved away from the time-consuming smaller pictures and exhibited larger historical and mythological works as well as a few landscapes and portraits. His reputation as a history painter, however, is confirmed by the numerous engravings and lithographs after his compositions, a few of which may have been made by the painter himself.

 His career after 1800 is difficult to follow. Auction catalogues and other publications of the period list dozens of paintings and drawings, but most cannot be traced. By the last year of his life he seems to have spent most of his time painting religious and mythological subjects, which were copied for publication by a variety of engravers and litho-graphers.  He was appointed a professor at the École Normale in Paris in 1832 and died in Paris in November of 1837.

Source: Curatorial files, Donald Rosenthal, “A Cleopatra by Bernard Duvivier,” Porticus 8 (1985), Susan Dodge Peters, editor, Memorial Art Gallery, Introduction to the Collection.