The Death of Sophonisba (c. 1810): Art, History and Details

The Death of Sophonisba (c. 1810) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pierre Guérin (French, 1774–1833).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

When a Roman general seized Sophonisba as war booty, her husband encouraged her to die with dignity rather than become a captive. She chose suicide by poison. As depicted in the painting, the toxin has just begun to take effect, and she uneasily maintains composure while penning a suicide note.

Object facts

• Title: The Death of Sophonisba
• Date: c. 1810
• Creator attribution: Pierre Guérin (French, 1774–1833)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 52 x 80 x 7 cm (20 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2008.71

A detail from the museum

The story of Sophonisba has been an inspiration to artists, writers, and even filmmakers since the 1300s.

Collection credit

Bequest of Jacques de Caso in memory of Alice Cagliostro and Domenick Cagliostro

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bottineau, Josette. "De Belisaire a Marcus Sextus. Genese et Histoire d'un Tableau de Pierre Guerin (1774-1833). Revue Du Louvre: La Revue Des Musées de France 43, no. 3 (June 1993): 41-53.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.