Who was Cleopatra? Supplementing ancient art works with later representations, an exhibition now at the Field Museum in Chicago explores the interpenetration of Greek and Egyptian styles--and the conflicting propaganda efforts by Cleopatra and her enemies in Rome that created the dualistic persona of history's most alluring queen. From: Art in America | Date: February 1, 2002| Author: Nodelman, Sheldon | COPYRIGHT 2002 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The current installation at the Field Museum in Chicago--after previous appearances at venues in Rome and London--of a large-scale exhibition of ancient art centered upon the personality and historical role of the last Macedonian queen of Egypt testifies to the perdurable hold of Cleopatra upon the public imagination more than 20 centuries after her death. (1) This follows by little more than a decade a previous major international show on much the same theme--"Cleopatra's Egypt" o...