AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CAST BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, PARIS, CIRCA 1890

The antique statue of Cleopatra, also known as Ariadne, is first recorded on 2 February 1512 as having recently been acquired by the Pope (Julius II) from Angelo Maffei and taken to the Belvedere. Later that same year it was mounted on a carved marble sarcophagus and installed as a fountain in a corner of the statue court. In 1797, the statue was ceded to the French and taken to Paris, where it was displayed in the Musée Central des Arts from 1800 to 1815, when it was returned to Rome. The Cleopatra was admired from the first by writers, artists and connoisseurs, and was both written about and copied in various media throughout the subsequent centuries.