A Concert at Cleopatra's, from "L'Illustration Européenne"

Robert François Richard Brend'amour|Antoine Calbet

1890 · Wood engraving · Drawings and Prints

Egyptian-themed plays and operas were popular throughout the nineteenth century in Europe and North America. Jointly written by Émile Moreau and Victorien Sardou the play "Cléopâtre" premiered in late 1890 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Paris. Sarah Bernhardt, the celebrated actor, played the title role in the drama which adapted "Anthony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare. Brend'amour's print, published in the Belgian weekly newspaper "L'Illustration Européenne," focuses on a group of three female musicians, accompanied by a standing figure, and features one of the performance's many lavish stage sets.

Artist

Robert François Richard Brend'amour|Antoine Calbet

Date

1890

Medium

Wood engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Donato Esposito, 2013