Stan Shiebert wrote:
"Can anyone identify this painting? Woman with one bare breast and pearls in her hair. In the background, scenes of rural medieval life. Patron says not a madonna, but she could be wrong about that. Thanks for any help you can send our way."
Cleopatra was often depicted with one bare breast, and frequently wearing a string of pearls. Sometimes she is holding one pearl in her hand, about to immerse it in a wine goblet (to demonstrate to Marc Antony that she's not a material girl). Examples: Le Moyne in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Voet in the Berlin Gemaeldegalerie (the latter a portrait of a sitter "as Cleopatra"). It seems that painters mostly reserved Cleopatra's second breast for scenes of her suicide, in which typically both are shown - along, of course, with her asp.
Hard to say whether the image you are seeking to identify - esp. given the background scene of rural medieval life - but might be worth exploring! And thanks for letting me see firsthand how helpful ARTstor might be at the reference desk :-)
Best,
Max Marmor
ARTstor
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
|