The Banquet of Cleopatra, Giambattista Tiepolo
On Google Art Project; high-resolution downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the National Gallery of Victoria.
In telling Pliny’s story of the competition between Cleopatra and Marc Antony to put on the most extravagant feast — the culmination of which is Cleopartra dissolving one of her priceless pearl earrings in a glass of vinegar prior to drinking it, and thus wining the wager — Tiepolo serves up a wild assortment of faces and expressions.
