In Cleopatra, Luna dramatises the death of the Egyptian queen, a longstanding and popular subject in European painting. As penned by the Greek biographer Plutarch, Cleopatra was discovered dead in her chamber by Augustus Caesar´s men, dressed in her royal ornaments on her golden bed; one handmaiden, Iras, was dead at her feet, while the other, Charmion, was on the verge of collapsing. Luna capture
The painting, which is now in the collection of Museo Nacional del Prado and on long-term loan to the City Council of Cádiz, is signed “Luna = Paris 1888”. It was completed by the time Luna moved to Paris, after winning a First Class medal for Spoliarium in 1884. It was commissioned by the Overseas Ministry and would be exhibited in the Barcelona Universal Exposition. The figure of Spain we
Retrato de Víctor Balaguer i Cirera (Barcelona, 1824-Madrid, 1901), escritor, historiador y político. Fue, además, ministro de Ultramar (1871, 1874 y 1886-1888) y de Fomento (1872). Aunque fue miembro de la Sociedad Abolicionista Española, él defendía una abolición gradual de la esclavitud. Esta obra fue pintada para el Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar y reproduce el retrato de la medalla realizada en