Page 48 - Orient Collection

18. The Woman with a VEIL

Artist: Jean Léon GÉROME, French, (1824 - 1904)
Execution date (approximate): 1870
Téchnique: Golden Bronze with Head, Arms and Feet in tinted Ivory, Excelent Patina.
Measures: Height 66 cm.
Description: A sculpture in excelent state of conservation. Signed on its Base with No.232F.
Inscriptions on base: “A notre excellent ami Ed.Mény souvenir affectueux et reconnaissant
d’âme fidèle et précieuse collaboration. J.P.Peter – P.Peters & Cie”.

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. 83.

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.

48 49