Proculeius Preventing Cleopatra from Stabbing herself 1810

Joannes Echarius Carolus Alberti painted ‘Proculeius Preventing Cleopatra from Stabbing herself’ in the late 18th or early 19th century, but its Neoclassical style looks further back, to the art of antiquity. This moment in the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, is set just after the death of her lover, Mark Antony, with whom she jointly ruled the Roman Republic. Alberti shows us Cleopatra’s attempted suicide being thwarted by Proculeius. Rather than accepting defeat and the humiliation of being taken to Rome as a prisoner, Cleopatra chooses to die on her own terms. But, like the figures we see here, she is caught between the public and the private. The painting raises questions about Roman imperialism, and the place of women in political life. Was Cleopatra acting heroically or selfishly? Alberti’s painting can be better understood through study of the classical texts that depict Cleopatra and her world.