Der Tod der Kleopatra

When Guercino took this commission in the spring of 1648, he was the most sought-after painter in Bologna, a position that had come to him only a few years earlier. Guido Reni, the city's reigning master, had died in 1642, and Guercino inherited both his studio's clientele and something of his cooler, more measured manner. You can see that shift here. The younger Guercino built pictures out of deep shadow and sudden light, while this Cleopatra is calmer, her body turned toward us in an even, classical glow as the asp does its work. A churchman from Genoa, Monsignor Carlo Emanuele Durazzo, paid him 125 ducatoni for it in March of that year, and it stayed in Genoese hands for centuries after.