THERE were several queens of Egypt named Cleopatra, but only one who became famous: Cleopatra VII, the lover of Caesar and Mark Anthony, the headstrong teenager who secured her throne against her brothers, the last Pharaoh after whose death Egypt became a Roman province. But there are only two episodes in her life of that have become classical motifs in art.

First there is the story that Cleopatra once bet Marc Anthony that she could spend ten million sestertii on a dinner, and won this bet by dissolving a priceless pearl in strong vinegar and drinking it. This story was first told by Pliny the Elder, a hundred years after the banquet allegedly took placed, and its authenticity can be questioned, especially since pearls take far too long to dissolve in vinegar for this stunt to be executed to good effect. This motif was obviously seen as a symbol of female power. It had some popularity with female patrons who wanted to be portrayed in a historical scene, and with female painters.

The second motif is Cleopatra’s death. The general agreement is that she killed herself by letting an asp bite her in the breast. This has been painted more often than the story of the pearl, or at least the paintings are more famous. The main appeal seems to have been that it was a good excuse to paint a nude female, just like the suicide of Lucretia, Bathsheba in her bath, or Susanna and the Elders.

In the 19th century, both motifs lost appeal. An excuse for painting a nude female was no longer needed, and classic history painting died out in general. Artists no longer repeated the same motifs over and over, they sought the novelty. As a consequence, quite a few different episodes of Cleopatra’s life were painted the first time in that era.