GUIDO RENI (BOLOGNA 1575-BOLOGNA 1642)
Cleopatra with the Asp
c. 1628RCIN 405338
The ‘Divine Guido’ was the favourite of Georgian collectors, who admired the idealised beauty of his figures and the sweet pathos of their suffering. During the twentieth century these same qualities fell out of favour and Reni’s works were dismissed as bloodless and mawkish.
Acquired by Frederick, Prince of Wales
Cat. 126