Death of Cleopatra (c.1645) Guido Cagnacci. This theatrical and erotic depiction of Cleopatra’s suicide is on brand for the Northern Italian painter. It is easy to envision this painting taking place on a stage where the heroine is so distraught from the defeat of Mark Antony that she feels her only course of action is to take her own life by letting a viper bite her breast.

Cagnacci was an admirer of the Northern Italian Baroque greats like Caracci, Reni and Guercino. However, Cagnacci chose to embrace the Baroque extremes, especially eroticism and theatricality. He is known to have lived an eccentric life; he never married but was constantly in the company of women, many whom dressed as men in order to avoid public condemnation.