No one can agree if the woman in Woman with a snake (Hygeia or Cleopatra) is the goddess of health or the queen of Egypt in her final moments. This ambiguity has fascinated viewers since the early seventeenth century, with some early inventories listing her as Hygeia—the Greek deity associated with healing—while others insisted she is Cleopatra, the ill-fated monarch whose death by asp bite became legend. The painting’s subject remains one of the most debated in the oeuvre of Peter Paul Rubens, a testament to how myth and history can intertwine on a single canvas. The woman, half-draped and luminous, turns her gaze downward as a serpent coils around her arm, its head poised near her bare breast.

If she is Cleopatra, this is the fateful instant before the asp’s bite, her calm acceptance contrasting with the deadly creature’s latent threat. If she is Hygeia, the snake becomes a symbol of renewal and medicine, echoing the staff of Asclepius. Rubens bathes her skin in warm light, emphasizing flesh and vulnerability, while the serpent’s sinuous form draws the eye along her body.

Compared to Michelangelo’s marble Cleopatra or Guido Reni’s painted versions, Rubens’ woman is more ambiguous—her expression unreadable, her identity suspended between healing and death. The painting’s early provenance is uncertain, but it likely dates from Rubens’ prolific Antwerp period, around 1615, when he was exploring mythological and allegorical female figures. There is no surviving record of a specific patron, nor is the original medium definitively known, though oil on canvas is probable given Rubens’ practice. Over the centuries, Woman with a snake has been catalogued under both possible identities, reflecting shifts in scholarly opinion.

Today, the painting invites viewers to ponder the boundaries between myth and history, and stands as a striking example of Rubens’ fascination with the power—and ambiguity—of the female form.