Drawing for a Book Illustration--Cleopatra 1700 - 1800

Curator: Here we have an 18th-century ink and paper drawing entitled, "Drawing for a Book Illustration--Cleopatra," made by an anonymous artist. It resides here at The Met. What's your first impression? Editor: A funerary monument. There's such restrained grief in the figures, and that vacant circle, almost as if a portrait has been erased, gives a sense of tragic absence. Curator: Yes, note how the symmetrical arrangement, coupled with the classical architectural elements, lends the drawing a certain order. The draftsman uses washes and hatching in a way that builds up volume gradually. The effect of light is masterful, but more interestingly is that the space it attempts to articulate it remains relatively flat despite. Editor: The scroll and vases at the bottom feel almost like offerings, objects laden with the hope of solace in the afterlife. Cleopatra’s story is synonymous with sacrifice and heartbreak; you can almost feel her ghost lingering. And yet, I wonder if it represents a universal theme? Is this about Egypt or about us? Curator: A relevant question given the subject matter. One can see the way in which the architectonics contain everything within, structuring our viewing experience through subtle recessions and planar disposition. Editor: These somber greys underscore the feeling of loss. I keep returning to that vacant center; a blank slate suggesting we're free to write our own histories or perhaps eternally bound to rewrite the past. Curator: Indeed, consider then the symbolic weight carried by such formal and considered compositional choices. Perhaps there’s nothing really empty about that circle at all. Editor: I leave feeling I have only begun to fathom the complex interplay of symbols within. It haunts in a strangely compelling way. Curator: Yes, one begins to wonder, are there formal solutions to these thematic riddles or only infinitely recurring puzzles.