ABSTRACT
The vanishing point of the painting leads all perspective to a point proximate to Cleopatra’s upheld hand from which dangles the pearl. The painting is a metaphor for an analysis in that it adds a creative spark at the lifeless point in Lacan’s theory where there is no metaphor. Lovers have used the painting to gesture to the specifics of their own love whilst proposing the general frame of marriage. Beyond its function as a backdrop to the proposal of a legal pairing, Cleopatra’s drink contains an enigma that is the elixir of psychoanalysis. Cleopatra’s act, in destroying a priceless good, catapults her beyond need, wealth, and price into the arena of psychoanalysis. Cleopatra and Antony sit opposite each other, with Cleopatra’s arm outstretched, a pearl earring dangling from her hand above a wineglass of vinegar. London’s National Gallery eventually acquired another version of The Banquet of Cleopatra, painted a year later by Tiepolo.
