Rare and quite literally, fit for a museum (was displayed in the Israel Museum): Cleopatra - by an understudy or ...

Rare and quite literally, fit for a museum (was displayed in the Israel Museum): Cleopatra - by an understudy or follower of Guido Rani , Italian, Late 18th century. Suicide of Cleopatra oil on canvas. Not dated and not signed. (There are references to the painting display in the exhibition) size: 81 by 101 cm Framed painting 100 by 118.5 cm It has undergone museum restoration and is in high-quality golden framing.

Exhibited at the Israel Museum: "The Magic of the Sphinx"

Ancient Egypt in European Art

Curator: Shlomit Steinberg

February 2016

Photo from the Israel museum, credit to the Israel museum, and to Photo (c) Israel Museum, Jerusalem by Eli Posner.

Guido Reni was an Italian painter in the high baroque style.

Biography:

He was born in Bologna for a family of musicians, the only son of Daniel Rennie and Vinbra de Pozzi. At the age of nine, he began to serve as an anon for the Flemine painter Denis Calvaert, who lived in Bologna.He was soon joined by painters Francesco Albany and Domancino. When he was 20, he set up a painting school led by the Italian painter with two other students. This is how a successful school for painters who moved to Rome was created in the footsteps of Animla Karachi. 

At the end of 1601, he moved to Rome with his fellow painter Francesco Albany to work with a group led by Animla Kara. Between 1601 and 1604, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sponderati was his chief patron. In 1604-1605, he got a job designing an altar with a description of Peter's crucifixion. He returned to Bologna and lived there a few years later, Once he returnd to Rome he became one of the leading painters there during his tenure. Between 1607 and 1614, the House of Borghese was from which Paul (the fith) came to his patron. He created a fresco on the ceiling at the Palavicini-Rosfilio Palace that was built by the Borghese House. The "Fresco" is one of his best-known works, and he describes Apollo in the dawn chariot bringing light to the world at the beginning. Its character poses were inspired by roman sarcophagic decorations and painted with classic restraint and quite simply for the bolder, more wild style of the frasco he painted with Moro Karachi at the Palace of Farnza. According to invoices found, he received a payment of 247 Skodi and 54 at Achio when he finished work in September 1616. He also painted the escacas in pauline chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Majura and the Aldubandini family Aldvarandini wing at the Vatican. In addition to his work in Rome, he painted a fresco in the Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, from 1613 to 1615.

He then left Rome and went to Naples to paint the ceiling of Naples Cathedral, but because of the fierce opposition of the local painters to the competition, he was forced to leave the city. According to the local, they threatened to poison him or harm him in another way, s it did later to  Domankino. After another brief stay in Rome, he returned to Bologna and established a new school there. He added more work in the Basilica of San Domenico in 1632. He also decorated Rowena Cathedral. After leaving Rome, he painted in a variety of styles in accordance with the eclectic style of many of Karachi's apprentices. For example, his work "Samson the Victor'. By contrast, "the crucifixing of Peter" and "Atalanta" & "Hippomans" They describe a dramatic oblique motion combined with light and shadow effects that show the effect of caravano. The carnage of the innocent painted in a stormy style and in purple toes shows raphael's influence. In 1625, The Prince of Poland, Wladyslaw Sigmund Vazez, visited him during his trip to Western Europe and purchased a number of paintings from him. The themes of his paintings usually included scenes from the Bible and the New Testament, as well as mythology. He also created many engravings, some based on his paintings and some on paintings of others. His most obvious student is Simon Cantari, who painted a portrait of Rennie on display at the Gallery of Bologna.

He died in Bologna in 1640 and was buried in the Rose Chapel in the Basilica San Domenico is in a town near the painter Elisabetta Sirani. His art works are on display at the Louvre at the National Gallery in London in the Capitoline museums and in other museums.