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Oil on canvas
H. 0,48 m; W. 0,38 m
Signed on the right: J. L GEROME.
Date: 1872
Literature: Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme. Monographie et Catalogue raisonné, Paris, ACR Edition, 1992, p. 232, n° 223.
Related works: Jean-Léon Gérôme, A vendre, Esclaves au Caire, oil on canvas, H. 2.14 m ; W. 1.42 m., signed lower left, 1873, Musée de Roubaix.
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At the age of 16, Gérôme entered the studio of history painter Paul Delaroche, when the latter was at the peak of his career. His lessons would prove influential to the young painter. Gérôme completed his training with a trip to Italy, before following the teachings of Charles Gleyre, a major figure in art pompier. In 1847, Gérôme met with great success at the Salon with his Neo-Grec painting, The Cock Fight (Paris, Musée d’Orsay), which won him a third-class medal, the first of many honours he would receive throughout his career.
From 1853 onwards, Gérôme traveled extensively, and in 1856 he discovered Egypt. Fascinated by the Orient, he returned again in 1862, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1874 and 1880. The development of photography allowed him to create a base of views. “So it was not from this side that Gérôme directed his work: his strong studies of history painting, his talent in drawing, fine, elegant, exact and yet full of style, a unique feeling that we readily call ethnographic […] made him the best person to render the simple detail, ignored until now, of the landscape, the architecture and the colour, the modern explorers of the Orient - man!” (Théophile Gautier, “Gérôme, tableaux, études et croquis de voyages”, L’Artiste, vol. 3, 1856, p. 23.)
Gérôme’s observational qualities are brought to the forefront in his Egyptian paintings, which show how inspired he was by daily life: the cafés, souks, public places, harems and mosques. He painted most of his works once he was back in his studio: his ideas and his academic style did not correspond to the principles of plein-air, that is to say, painted on the spot, advocated by his Impressionist contemporaries. The works of Gérôme remained the fruit of a meticulous process: his exquisite candid shots were followed by careful studies of the subjects, which were then transposed onto the final painting. Each figure had to be considered to be sufficient in and of itself, as our painting shows.
This is a preparatory study to the painting A vendre, Esclaves au Caire, kept in the Roubaix Museum. Gérôme depicts the beauty of the profile of this young slave girl in all her sobriety and simplicity. Her head is raised by the slave collar she wears, while the red stain from the flowers stuck into her hair underlines the warm shades of her complexion.
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