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Giambattista Tiepolo
The Banquet of Cleopatra (1743-1744)
oil on canvas
250.3 × 357.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1933
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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The Banquet of Cleopatra
(1743-1744)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
250.3 × 357.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1933
Gallery location
17th to 18th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The episode represented in Tiepolo’s The Banquet of Cleopatra is drawn from the Roman historian Pliny’s Natural History (written in AD ٧٧). Here Pliny recounted the tale of a famous contest between the Egyptian and Roman rulers whereby Cleopatra (٦٩–٣٠ BCE) wagered that she could stage a feast more lavish than the legendary excesses of Mark Antony (٨٣–٣٠ BCE). Tiepolo’s painting shows the dramatic climax of Cleopatra’s sumptuous repast when, faced with a still scornful Mark Antony, she wins the wager with her trump card. Removing one of a pair of priceless pearls that adorn her as earrings, Cleopatra dissolves the pearl in a glass of vinegar and drinks it, an extravagance that causes Mark Antony to lose his bet. Besotted with one another, they became lovers, albeit doomed, immediately after this momentous event.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black paint on reverse l.r.: 2608
Accession Number
103-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Architecture History and Legend Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
banquets (feasts) Cleopatra gambling Mark Antony pearl (animal material) rulers (people) scenes (depictions) wealth
Movements
Rococo
Frame
By F. A. Pollak, London, 1955
Frame
The reframing in 1955 of Tiepolo’s, The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1743 (acquired in 1933) is possibly the earliest re-framing project in the eighteenth century collection.
The project appears to have been initiated by A.J.L.McDonnell (London Felton advisor) when the painting was sent to London for exhibition at the Royal Academy and later, cleaning by Horace Buttery in 1954/5.
The frame that was replaced in 1955 was not the original frame for the painting. Surviving documents tell us that on 10 February 1744 Count Algarotti paid for a frame for The Banquet of Cleopatra and on 5 March 1744 the artist was paid 300 zecchini for the painting, which was then dispatched to Dresden. No record has come to light detailing the form of the original frame.
When it was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1933, it came in a nineteenth century classical revival scotia frame, most likely made in Russia, the painting having been there from c.1800 to 1933. The frame appears in a newspaper cutting from the Melbourne newspaper, The Argus, Wednesday August 8, 1934.
A.J.L. McDonnell wrote to the Secretary of The Felton Bequests Committee, 25 November 1954, commenting on the Tiepolo being on display in Gallery III at the Royal Academy and adding “ It’s present frame is a completely undistinguished 19th Century one, with a plaster moulding, quite unsuited to such a picture. It would obviously be very difficult ever to find an original 18th Century Venetian frame for it, but a completely satisfactory one could be made.”
In February 1955 Director Daryl Lindsay wrote to McDonnell in London suggesting £300 be set aside for a new frame. “I know Pollak is the best man for a job of this kind, but he is awfully expensive and I would think that Bourlet or one of the other good firms would be able to turn out a good frame.”
In the end the negotiations were with Pollak, suggesting McDonnell may have had significant influence in the project. A frame design and profile drawing were sent from Pollak to Lindsay April 1955. Lindsay replied to Pollak 11 March 1955, returning the design and profile and providing another design from himself and Harley Griffiths – based on a seventeenth century Italian frame in the collection (unidentified) and noting that the Pollak design was similar to the frame on the Pittoni (2360-4) which Lindsay and Griffiths thought ‘would not look quite right on the Tiepolo.’ In the end the decision was left to McDonnell and Pollak to resolve in London.
The frame that came back from London with the painting in 1955 is in the manner of a Canaletto style frame from the eighteenth century and very similar to the frame on the Pittoni. The invoice for the frame, from F.A.Pollak, 6, Blue Ball Yard, London, S.W.1., June 1955, is for ‘One carved gold frame made for picture by Giov. B. Tiepolo £350.’ (In 1953 Lindsay had bought four Italian Renaissance frames in London for £630.00.)
We should consider the Tiepolo frame as a choice made by McDonnell and Pollak rather than reflecting the preference of Lindsay.
It is a cleverly made frame and an appropriate stylistic choice. The frame is carved in solid timber, gilded and distressed.
It is a well resolved example of the frame making skills of Frederick Pollak.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2002-03.
Frederick Pollak was commissioned to make several frames for the collection in 1954. Rembrandt, Portrait of a white haired man; Studio of Rembrandt, Self portrait; Marmion, Virgin and Child; After van Eyck, Madonna and Child.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Frederick Pollak
London
Date
1955
Materials
carved wood and gold leaf
Frame Condition
Good original condition.
More Information
National Portrait Gallery