
The Banquet of Cleopatra (Arkhangelskoe)
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1747
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted this Banquet of Cleopatra in 1747. Pliny tells how Cleopatra wagered Mark Antony that she could serve the costliest feast ever, then dissolved a great pearl in vinegar and drank it. This version hangs in the Tiepolo room of the Yusupov palace at Arkhangelskoe near Moscow.





