The Death of Sophonisba is a 1716-1720 oil on canvas painting of Sophonisba by Giambattista Pittoni, produced in Venice - a sketch or smaller copy was bought by the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in 1723. It was bought for the Hermitage Museum in 1773 by the court cellist G. Dal Olio, then placed in the Tauride Palace. It was auctioned by Tsar Nicholas I in 1854 and bought by E.T. Zarudnoi-Cavos, then bought back by the Hermitage Museum in 1918. It was finally transferred to its present home at the Pushkin Museum in 1930. Its pair a Semiramis by the same artist, was in the Nikaelov collection in Paris before being bought by the Pushkin Museum in 1853.
Bibliography
Antichità viva, Volume 32, Edam, 1993
Franca Zava Boccazzi, Giambattista Pittoni, ed. Alfieri, 1979
N. Pozza, 'Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte', Volume 21, Istituto di storia dell'arte (Fondazione "Giorgio Cini"), 1997 F. Apolloni and M. Tazzoli, Antologia Di Belle Arti, 2000