When I was a student, I spent some time in the National Gallery of Victoria in St Kilda Road. Not that I am any art connoisseur. It was simply part of our History & Culture class.
One painting that I remember well was The Banquet of Cleopatra painted by Giambattista Tiepolo.
It showed the queen holding a pearl earring over a glass of wine while Mark Anthony and their shocked servants held their breaths. Of course it was marvellously painted, but what’s most intriguing about this painting is the story it held.
In 42 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar’s death, summoned Cleopatra to meet him in Tarsus to answer questions about her loyalty.
Cleopatra desperately needed to win Mark Anthony’s approval, so she made a bet with him that she could throw the most lavish banquet in history, worth ten million sesterces, just for him. Mark Anthony was suitably intrigued so he accepted the wager.
Over dinner, she promptly crushed one large pearl of her priceless pearl earrings, dissolved it in the wine, and drank it down. Astonished, Antony declined his dinner — the matching pearl — and admitted she had won.
This move saved her life. Mark Antony not only liked her, he married her. They had three children.
See? Farty stuff can be interesting. Park West Gallery is home to the largest collection of fine art in the world while its affiliate company, Park West at Sea, conducts cruise ship art auctions around the world.
