Page 19 - Orient Collection

3. The PELT SELLER, or, Le Marchand de Peaux.

Artist: Jean Léon GÉROME, French, (1824 - 1904)
Execution date (approximate): 1880
Téchnique: Oil on canvas, (Signed lower right)
Measures: 72 x 56 cm.
Description: An outstanding Masterpiece of Gérome, one of a scene, which he depicted
during his visit to Egypt, accompanying Napoléon III,
When the French did The Suez Canal in 1865. The Pelt Seller, or, Le Marchand de Peaux; a
young seller of a Tiger Skin in the streets of Cairo Egypt.
This painting was acquired by a Nephew of Napoléon III.

Exhibitions
Royal Academy of Arts in London, in 1870, 1871, 1888, 1893, Dictionary of Contributors and
their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904,Vol. III, p.226.
De Delacroix A Kandinsky; L’orientalisme En Europe.
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 15.10.2010 - 09.01.2011.
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, München 28.01.2011 - 01.05.2011.
Musées des Beaux-Arts de Marseilles, 27.05.2011 - 28.08.2011.
(Reunion des Musées Nationaux de France, rmn)

Publications
• L’Orientalisme En Europe, De Delacroix A Kandinsky, p. 16.

Biography
Jean-Léon Gérôme was one of the most famous French painters of his day. He went to Paris in
1840 where he studied under Paul Delaroche, whom he accompanied to Italy (1843–44). He visited
Florence, Rome, the Vatican and Pompeii, but he was more attracted to the world of nature. On his
return he, like many other students of Delaroche, went into the atelier of Charles Gleyre and studied
there for a brief time. He then attended the École des Beaux-Arts and finished his studies in 1846.
In 1851, he decorated a vase that Emperor Napoleon III of France gave to Prince Albert which is
now part of the Royal Collection at St. James’s Palace in London. He exhibited Bacchus and Love,
Drunk, a Greek Interior and Souvenir d’Italie, in 1851; Paestum (1852); and An Idyll (1853). In 1856,
he visited Turkey and Egypt for the first time. This would herald the start of many Orientalist
paintings depicting the Arabic scenes and North African landscapes.
Gérôme’s reputation was greatly enhanced at the Salon of 1857 by a collection of works: the
Duel, (Musée Condé, Chantilly), Egyptian Recruits crossing the Desert, and Camels Watering.
In 1858, he helped to decorate the Paris house of Prince Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul
Bonaparte in the Pompeian style.
His Orientalist paintings were based on photographs taken during his trips. The Orient that
Gérôme depicted was dreamed up by Victor Hugo in 1829 in his poetic work Orientales, and
his authentic images expressed a view of the Orient as a place of sensuality and violence.
Gérôme succeeded in painting an image of the Orient that was immutable, untouched, and
presented for a western audience.

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