(Genoa 1632–1698/1700 Piacenza)
The Death of Cleopatra,
oil on canvas, 99.5 x 123.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

Literature:
M. Newcome, Giovanni Battista Merano, Turin 2010, p. 52, no. 14 (as Giovanni Battista Merano, with incorrect measurements)

The present Death of Cleopatra by Giovanni Battista Merano is a rare example for a profane subject in the Genoese painter’s oeuvre. The Titian red, the wrinkled face of the elderly maidservant and the strong lighting effects suggest various stylistic influences and reflect the young artist’s love for experimentation. The notable presence of sfumato and the numerous twisted folds of Cleopatra’s white robe recall characteristics of the monogrammed Crucifixion with Saint Lawrence and Saint George, conserved in the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa from 1652 (see M. Newcome, op. cit., 2010, p. 39, cat. no. 10).

Giovanni Battista Merano was first apprenticed in the workshop of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari and Valerio Castello and finished his training with a stay in Parma in the 1650s where he studied the works of Correggio and Parmigianino. Even after his return to Genoa, Merano maintained constant relations with the city of Parma, obtaining prestigious fresco commissions from Duke Ranuccio II Farnese in the 1680s for the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, the chapel of Palazzo del Giardino and the façade of Palazzo dell’Uditore Criminale. Thanks to the fame he achieved with these works, he received important and honourable commissions with noble Ligurian and Emilian patrons.