GÉRÔME, Jean-Léon

G�r�me’s father, a goldsmith from Vesoul, discouraged his son from studying to become a painter but agreed, reluctantly, to allow him a trial period in the studio of Paul Delaroche in Paris. He traveled and studied in Italy, elsewhere in Europe, and in Asia Minor. The subjects that he enjoyed most were scenes of nature and animals. He is best known for mythological and history paintings that are typically anecdotal, painstaking, melodramatic, and frequently erotic.

The present painting, executed in a fairly free manner, was a resounding success at the 1857 Salon, after which the painter repeated it several times.

This unfinished painting was made as a study for the final version of the same title in the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo.

This painting was acquired by the Russian emperor Alexander III at the 1876 Salon in Paris. Prior to acceding to the throne in 1881, Alexander traveled extensively throughout Europe.

A naked woman at centre and man at far right are shown in a public courtyard, as prospective slave owners inspect their bodies. Meticulous details like the figures’ clothing, as well as the style of the surrounding architecture, evoke locales such as Egypt and Turkey, where G�r�me spent several months traveling and sketching. Constructed both from imagination and observation, this dehumanizing scene portrays Islamic society as strange, violent, and depraved. Such paintings appealed to France’s assumptions of its own moral superiority as it expanded its colonial empire across North Africa.

Painted with minute precision based in part on actual places - Istanbul’s Topkapi palace inspired the tiled wall, while the stone floor resembles that of the mosque of Amr in Cairo - this scene presents a European fantasy of life in the Islamic world. The assembled men, whose garments and weapons are derived from a combination of cultures, appear dazed as they watch a snake charmer. Their gaze upon the boy’s naked body calls attention to our own. This type of painting, referred to as Orientalist, reflected and shaped European prejudices about the world beyond its borders.

G�r�me, originally a painter, turned to sculpting late in life. Once he had, he consistently combined sculpture and painting in all his works. Tanagra, the first coloured sculpture in the artist’s oeuvre, was a huge success at the Salon of 1890.

In the 1860s, French archeologists digging in the ancient Greek city of Tanagra to the east of Thebes unearthed a number of painted terracotta figures that soon became famous for their charm and subtle delicate colours. G�r�me’s female form is of Tyche, a deity who represented the personification of the Greek city. She is seated on an excavation mound with an excavation implement leaning against it. In her open hand she is holding an imitation of a Tanagra figurine, a tiny undulating dancer. Originally the whole group was painted, however, due to the long storage, it is now monochrome.

In her open hand, the personification of the ancient Greek city is holding an imitation of a Tanagra figurine, a tiny undulating dancer.

From 1855, G�r�me regularly travels to the East coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In 1857, he travels alongside Emile Augier and August Bartholdi in Egypt. In the aftermath of this journey we can find the great variety of the subjects treated by the artist at the 1857 Salon. His Orientalist painter carrier eventually begins. 1859 announces the first Egyptian genre works at the Salon: the painter offers an innovative view of the Midle-East.

Between 1862 and 1867 his journeys in Egypt and Syria allow him to feed his imagination, and thanks to this imagery he meets a great success every year at the French Art Salon.

In 1893, he is appointed as honorary president of the Orientalist Painters Society, together with Benjamin Constant.

This picture shows a girl and a boy, both naked, watching a cockfight. It is set under a Mediterranean sky with a view of the sea in the background. There are obvious parallels between the animals and the human figures, indicating that the cockfight is intended to symbolize the interaction between the two sexes.

G�r�me, who specialised in Greek themes, later painted another version of this subject. Due to the success of the painting there are several copies in existence.