Cleopatra 1510 - 1520

Agostino Veneziano created this engraving, *Cleopatra*, around 1515-1516. The composition presents a lone female figure standing within a niche, yet what unsettles is how it prompts us to question conventional notions of identity. The semiotic system at play invites one to deconstruct fixed meanings: Cleopatra is represented nude but for a snake coiled around her wrist, an explicit symbol that speaks to a powerful, dangerous queen. Veneziano destabilizes the narrative by inscribing 'ISIS' in the upper-left corner, therefore challenging the singularity of the image and blurring the distinction between identity, cultural memory, and artistic representation. Beneath her foot, he includes the inscription 'BACIO . DI . DANTE,' further layering interpretation. The artist doesn't merely represent Cleopatra, but places her within a matrix of cultural and historical allusions, allowing us to reconsider the established frameworks of meaning.