# Cleopatra and the Peasant [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DELACROIX, Eugène]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 98 x 123 cm ## Commentary Cleopatra and the Peasant allows Delacroix to contrast beauty and ugliness, illustrating the mixture of the sublime and the grotesque that, in his view, typified Shakespeare's art. The source of the painting is indeed Anthony and Cleopatra, though certain critics have cited the name of Plutarch. This is the denouement; Cleopatra stares in fascination at the asp. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 14 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/massenet\_cleopatra.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Jules Massenet: Cleopatra, Cleopatra's aria</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [A Mad Woman]() - [A Moroccan Saddling a Horse]() - [A Mortally Wounded Brigand Quenches his Thirst]() - [A Vase of Flowers on a Console]() - [A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother]() - [Apollo Slays Python \(detail\)]() - [Apollo Slays Python]() - [Apollo Slays Python]() - [Apollo Vanquishing the Python]() - [Arab Fantasia]() - [Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable]() - [Aspasia]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()