Painting date: 1888
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 25.7 x 22.4 in (65.4 x 56.8 cm)
Location: Private Collection

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (Greek: Goddess Loving Her Father)
b. 69 BC, d. Aug. 30, 30 BC, Alexandria, Egypt

Egyptian queen famous in history and drama, lover of Julius Caesar and later the wife of Mark Antony. She became queen on the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 BC, ruling successively with her two brothers Ptolemy XIII (51-47) and Ptolemy XIV (47-44) and her son Ptolemy XV Caesar (44-30). After the Roman armies of Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and Egypt fell under Roman domination. Her ambition no less than her charm actively influenced Roman politics at a crucial period, and she came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme fatale.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica.