Meditations on Gallery 134



According to the Met this statute might be the Ptolemaic queent Cleopatra VII.  But maybe not.  She is holding a corncopia which suggests wealth and the dress and other items indicate the second or first century BC.  In any case it's a lovely statute and there a number of other statues in this gallery or other royal personages.  There are also a number of beautiful temple cult bas relief sculptures. While looking at this sculpture I'm reminded of a recent performance I saw at the Metropolitan Opera of Antony and Cleopatra, a new opera by John Adams.  This Cleopatra was impetuous and strong.  Although Cleopatra is only in the play by inference we also recently saw a performance by the Riverside Park Hudson Shakespeare Company of Julius Caesar .  This wonderful group puts on free performance every summer and makes for an enchanting evening.  (If the weather cooperates, which it usually does.).  Although Shakespeare is not particularly kind to Cleopatra in his version of Antony and Cleopatra nevertheless I love this character as she is endlessly fascinating.

 


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