ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the status of sculpture in early modern England and evaluates to which degree Italian art could have influenced English sculpture and statues and, in particular, Shakespeare's vision of art. It delineates the position of Italian art, and more particularly of sculptors and sculpture, in early modern England. Through the consideration of the two main female characters in Antony and Cleopatra, that is to say, Octavia and Cleopatra, it will be demonstrated that in fact, they epitomise two feminine embodiments of opposite aesthetic visions. This, in turn, will lead to wonder if Shakespeare's vision of these antinomic heroines was part of a truly original conception of art which reshaped England's identity in the Jacobean era. Undeniably, statue-like Octavia lacks what lively Cleopatra displays, that is to say, an incredible beauty, associated with charisma, allure, passion, and unpredictability.
