Cleopatra
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Object Details
Artist/Maker
William Wetmore Story, American, 1819–1895
Date
1858, carved 1878
Medium
Marble
Dimensions
54 5/8 x 29 3/8 x 49 inches
Credit
Gift of the West Foundation in honor of Gudmund Vigtel and Michael E. Shapiro
Accession #
2010.89
Description
A prolific author of poems, prose, and social commentary, the American sculptor William Story was also a muse. Nathaniel Hawthorne based the central figure on Story for his wildly popular 1860 novel, The Marble Faun, a romance featuring a young sculptor and his carving of Cleopatra. The book’s popularity thrust both Story and his sculpture into the limelight.
For his pensive rendering of the Egyptian queen, Story selects a moment of psychological tension. Caught deep in thought, Cleopatra wears a polished bracelet on her outstretched arm, foreshadowing her certain death from the bite of a venomous snake.