Lady Catherine Stepney as Cleopatra by Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-83)

Lady Catherine Stepney as Cleopatra

Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-83)

c. 1836

Marble

Victoria & Albert Museum, London [A.8-1964. Bequeathed by Miss Dorothy Manners]

According to the museum chat label, "Lady Stepney (1778-1845) was a novelist and a London society hostess. Here she is depicted as Cleopatra, queen of Eygpy, with the asp that Cleopatra used to commit suicide coiling around her right arm."

Photograph by George P. Landow 2008

Plain background created by Ruth M. Landow with Photoshop