DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23229#0185
CHOPIN AMONG ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS
Norblin commemorate the event. The ballet, telling the story of the
Egyptian queen's defeat at the hands of Octavian Augustus, closed
with a scene of Cleopatra's conversation with Augustus and her suicide.
After the show finished, an inscription in Polish and French appeared on
the stage: "Social inequalities caused the birth of despotism in Rome;
let Accord grant freedom in Poland"43. This very moment another in-
scription appeared in the sky, drawn with fireworks: "Hail 7th September
1764! Hail 3rd May 1791!". The show, later performed many times, gave
occasion to patriotic demonstrations. The New Augustus, i.e. King Sta-
nislaus Augustus, was perceived as the vanquisher of the Oriental em-
press and her despotism, and the dying Cleopatra was of course seen
as a portrayal of tsarina Catherine II. Two years later the sculpture of the
Dying Cleopatra was moved from the terrace in front of the Palace on
the Water to the theatre, where it has remained ever since.
The monarch's fascination with this famous sculpture was infectious: at
least one member of the Tyszkiewicz family, closely related to the king,
liked it enough to place it on his mantelpiece. The mantelpiece in question
is the one located today on the wall opposite the window in the former
Dining Room, now the University Museum. Originally, however, this man- Fig. 188. Ferdynand Pinck, Dying Cleopatra
telpiece furnished one of the first floor interiors built by Lessel, and was {Sleeping Ariadne), drawing, GR BUW.
201
Norblin commemorate the event. The ballet, telling the story of the
Egyptian queen's defeat at the hands of Octavian Augustus, closed
with a scene of Cleopatra's conversation with Augustus and her suicide.
After the show finished, an inscription in Polish and French appeared on
the stage: "Social inequalities caused the birth of despotism in Rome;
let Accord grant freedom in Poland"43. This very moment another in-
scription appeared in the sky, drawn with fireworks: "Hail 7th September
1764! Hail 3rd May 1791!". The show, later performed many times, gave
occasion to patriotic demonstrations. The New Augustus, i.e. King Sta-
nislaus Augustus, was perceived as the vanquisher of the Oriental em-
press and her despotism, and the dying Cleopatra was of course seen
as a portrayal of tsarina Catherine II. Two years later the sculpture of the
Dying Cleopatra was moved from the terrace in front of the Palace on
the Water to the theatre, where it has remained ever since.
The monarch's fascination with this famous sculpture was infectious: at
least one member of the Tyszkiewicz family, closely related to the king,
liked it enough to place it on his mantelpiece. The mantelpiece in question
is the one located today on the wall opposite the window in the former
Dining Room, now the University Museum. Originally, however, this man- Fig. 188. Ferdynand Pinck, Dying Cleopatra
telpiece furnished one of the first floor interiors built by Lessel, and was {Sleeping Ariadne), drawing, GR BUW.
201