The Death of Cleopatra

Having just died by suicide, the queen of Egypt Cleopatra lies on her bed at right under a draped colonnade. An attendant beside her adjusts her crown, while another has fallen dead from shock at the foot of the bed. In an open courtyard at the left of the scene soldiers and palace officials rush to investigate.The drawing is preparatory to a ceiling fresco in the Palazzo Imperiale at Campetto, west of Genoa, Italy. Although the work was destroyed in World War II, a black and white photograph records the composition, which broadly follows the drawing, with the addition of extra figures.