French school of the 19th century. Circle of GUSTAVE... Lot 19

French school of the 19th century. Circle of GUSTAVE MOREAU (Paris, 1826- 1898). "Meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Tarsus". Oil on canvas. Measurements: 86 x 128; 103 x 146 (frame). The artistic and literary imagination has transformed, in the course of the centuries, a supposed diplomatic encounter between the Roman governor and the last queen of Egypt in a passionate amorous rendezvous. The painting we are concerned with here does not hide details in the depiction of the sumptuousness and concupiscence of the event. It seems to be inspired by the words of Plutarch, to whom we owe the first description of the extreme luxury of that golden galley with silver oars crossing the Cidno river, from which Cleopatra would descend wrapped in silks. Here that scene is freely reproduced: descending from the boat under a red canopy, being carried by African servants and accompanied by naked muses with swaying bodies. On the other side, Mark Antony's retinue is no less spectacular, with his white horses with gold harnesses, his amazons and his imperial guard. This painting, full of fantasy, belongs to the French symbolist school, akin to the singular mixture of oriental fantasy, myth and history that characterized the fin-de-siècle painting of Gustave Moreau's circle.