(Verona 1578–1649 Rome)
The death of Cleopatra,
oil on canvas, 132 x 99 cm, framed

Inscribed on the reverse with an inventory number ‘D. 44’ and a wax seal with a cardinal’s coat-of-arms on the stretcher.

Provenance:
possibly Cardinal Luigi Alessandro Omodei (1608-1685) or Cardinal Luigi Omodei (1657-1706) (according to a wax seal on the stretcher);
with Vincenzo Costantini, Rome;
Private collection, Rome, since 1982

Exhibited:
Verona, Museo di Castelvecchio, Alessandro Turchi detto l’Orbetto: 1578-1649, 18 September – 19 December 1999, pp. 180-181, cat. no. 52 (as Alessandro Turchi)

Literature:
M. Pulini, Il naturalismo temperato di Alessandro Turchi, in: Studi di Storia dell’Arte, 1996, vol. 7, p. 170, illustrated p. 192 fig. 32 (as Alessandro Turchi);
D. Scaglietti Kelescian, in: Alessandro Turchi detto l’Orbetto: 1578-1649, Milan 1999, pp. 180-181, cat. no. 52 (as Alessandro Turchi);

C. Michaelides, A new proposed attribution for the Saint Cecilia in Dulwich, in: The art tribune, online magazine, 2012, retrieved 17 September 2019 from: www.thearttribune.com/A-New-Proposed-Attribution-for-the.html (as Alessandro Turchi)

In the present painting Cleopatra is depicted sitting on a golden chair in the throes of death, having been bitten by an asp. She wears no crown, but an elaborate hairstyle adorned with a jewel. She wears pearl earings, the same stones that, according to myth, she used to drink when dissolved in vinegar in order to lighten her skin.

The theme of the death of Cleopatra is dramatic and Alessandro Turchi interpreted it as an occasion for the depiction of feminine beauty and sensuality. The emotive pathos of the painting is emphasized by the tragic destiny of Cleopatra depicted in solitude. She is alone in her drama, and the curtain behind accentuates the intimate, private character of the scene. This painting is an example of dramatic style, and Scaglietti Kelescian dates this work to 1640, when Alessandro Turchi executed several paintings for Marchese Gherardini, in Verona (see literature).

One of the most striking features of this painting is its rich colour tonalities of red, blue and yellow together with the green of the curtain. This range of colours accentuates the drama and emotion of the compostion, building on the tension of the theme. Alessandro Turchi’s works were characterised by his use of a Veronese-like palette. This use of colour is typical of his works, such as The Death of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in the Musée du Louvre (see fig. 2). This work attests to the reputation of the painter outside of Italy. In fact, some of his paintings were in the collection of Cardinal Richelieu, and The Death of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony was commission by Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière for the gallery of Hôtel de la Vrillière.

The treatments of the draperies point to other late works by Alessandro Turchi, such as the Saint Cecilia in a private collection and particularly the Mary Magdalene, also in a private collection (see fig. 1).
These feminine figures are solemn, almost classical but also have a sense of drama. As Pulini suggests (see literature), these heroic female ‘mezze figure’ have an Emilian rhetoric in their gestures and a taste typical of Guido Reni. In fact, the dialogue with Bolognese art stimulates Alessandro Turchi: in the same period Guido Reni’s (1638-39) Cleopatra was also executed, now conserved in the Palazzo Pitti (inv. no. 270), and presents a very similar approach in composition and in its scheme. Another source for Turchi was Guercino, during that artist’s period of classicist experimentation, expressed by his Cleopatra in a private collection, Ferrara. Alessandro Turchi’s works are founded on this refined synthesis of the predominant elements of the artistic trends of the seventeenth century.

Alessandro Turchi was born in Verona in 1578, and he finally settled in Rome in 1614. His early works echo Veronese and Lombard mannerist traditions and his mature style shows the influence of the Bolognese school. He was elected in 1637 as Principe of Rome’s Accademia di San Luca and in 1638 he entered in the Congregazione dei Virtuosi del Pantheon, indicating his prominent position in Roman artistic circles. He had several important clients, such as Cardinal Mazarin, Cardinal Richelieu and the Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian I.

Provenance:
It is possible that the present painting was commissioned by or belonged to the collection of Cardinal Luigi Alessandro Omodei (1608–1685) or Cardinal Lugi Omodei (1657–1706) or another, as yet, unidentified cardinal (see seal with coat-of-arms on the stretcher).

Scaglietti Kelescian states that the present painting was in the Colonna collection, Rome and mentioned in the 1679 inventory as ‘un quadro simile (palmi 5 x 6) con Cleopatra moribonda opera di Alessandro Veronese’ (see op. cit. Scaglietti Kelescian, 1999). However, this description in the inventory appears to refer to another painting (see A. G. De Marchi, in: Galleria Colonna in Roma. Catalogo dei dipinti, ed. by P. Piergiovanni, Rome 2015, pp. 112-115, cat. no. 85).