A Chat by the Fireside

In this small but opulent painting, Gérôme depicts a casual meeting between two men and a third, less noticeable, companion: a black cat perched close to the heat of an ornate, Iznik tile fireplace. The man on the left wears the lavish costume of an Ottoman solider; he sets aside his pipe and rifle to warm his hands. A second man, barefoot and dressed in a tattered garment, pauses from lighting his pipe and looks toward his companion while they speak. Gérôme paints their foreign costumes, props, and architectural setting with his signature use of high-definition detail, evoking the interior of the Imperial Pavilion in the Yeni Cami mosque in Istanbul. Gérôme traveled to Istanbul in the 1850s, but produced his paintings in France, years later, frequently utilizing source photographs. Gérôme painted scores of “orientalist” subjects similarto Chat by the Fireside, often using imported costumes and French models interchangeably to create scenes set in areas as diverse as Turkey, Egypt, Africa, and ancient Greece.