Berenice Cutting Her Hair
Artist
Antonio Molinari
(Italian, 1655 - 1704)
Dateca. 1695-1704
CultureItalian
MediumOil on canvas
ClassificationPaintings
ProvenanceGeorge Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (1821–1891), London and Brownsea Island, Dorset; (sold Cavendish-Bentinck sale, Christie’s, London, 13 July 1891, lot 747, for £5–15s–6p, to Davis). (Sold Christie’s, London, 31 July 1931, lot 123, for £73–10s); John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN175
Molinari, a Venetian, spent his entire career in his native city. Here he depicts the story of Queen Berenice (267 or 266 BCE – 221 BCE), the daughter of the king of Libya and wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt. In thanks for her husband’s safe return from a military campaign in Syria, Berenice cut off some of her hair and offered it on the altar of Aphrodite in the temple at Zephyrium. Berenice was considered a paragon of marital devotion, and here she gazes up lovingly at her husband. At left, Ptolemy’s black African servant carries part of his armor.
On View
On viewLocation
DimensionsImage: 48 3/4 x 48 3/4 in. (123.8 x 123.8 cm)- Museum of Art, Gallery 18, Wall North
Frame: 57 3/8 × 57 7/8 × 2 15/16 in. (145.7 × 147 × 7.5 cm)
